Hope Mill News
Keep up to date with life at Hope Mill Theatre
September 2024
Hello to you, our audience member and supporter.
I’m Joe, the Artistic Director of Hope Mill Theatre. I co-founded the organisation alongside our Chief Executive, Will, back in 2015. We’ve come a long way since then!
As we head into our autumn season, I wanted to share with you some updates about Hope Mill Theatre, as well as some exciting plans for the future of our organisation and our local area.
The end of 2023 was a tough time for us. Like many other arts organisations we faced increased running costs and last-minute booking patterns, alongside intense competition for funding, specifically for our Theatre School programme.
However, in true Hope Mill Theatre style we rallied together as a team and as a Board, and worked hard to find a way forward. As we entered this year, things began to look more hopeful.
Our successful public fundraising campaign generated an incredible £70,000, supported by an evening of music hall hosted by Dame Maureen Lipman, a star studded Gypsy starring Jodie Prenger at the Opera House, and a 5 week SELL-OUT new play The Gap, with Denise Welch and Matthew Kelly. To everyone who donated, bought a ticket, showed us love and spread the word, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Your love for theatre has kept us alive.
National Lottery Heritage Funding
Approaching our ninth birthday in October, we have much to be excited about.
Our biggest grant to date has come from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, to support our work around the 200th anniversary of Hope Mill. This funding enabled a week-long summer school for young people, and a free weekend of celebratory activities in the grounds of Hope Mill, for over a thousand visitors (plus free ice cream!)
The funding will also be used to relaunch our popular play reading group, and support artists performing in Turn On Fest, our annual celebration of LGBTQIA+ talent, in January 2025.
The grant will enable us to research into the history of the mill and the surrounding area of Holt Town, the results of which will be displayed for the public in the autumn.
Holt Town Consultation
Many of you will be frequent visitors to Hope Mill Theatre. If you’ve been with us since the beginning, you’ll know that the local area has changed drastically in a short time, and what was once derelict land has seen much regeneration.
However, what you may not know is that Hope Mill Theatre is situated in Holt Town, which was once the beating heart of industry in Manchester.
Manchester City Council have just released a proposed Framework for the new Holt Town area, and as part of the proposed framework you will notice the inclusion of a ‘Cultural and Community Space’.
Hope Mill Theatre has been at the forefront of culture in Holt Town for almost a decade, and we are passionate about serving our hyper local community through our outreach programmes.
We want to be here for the next 200 years, but in order to maintain our presence, we have to expand.
This will allow us to develop the next generation of young creatives, bring cultural opportunities to the local area and become more sustainable. Our ambition could become a reality, if there was an opportunity for us to expand into a larger space.
As a valued member of our Hope Mill family and a frequent visitor to Holt Town, we’d really appreciate you taking 10 minutes to look at the proposed framework and complete the short survey, by clicking on the link below.
I want to end by once again thanking you for your continued love and support of Hope Mill Theatre. We have loads of fabulous productions in the coming months, and we can’t wait to welcome you back to the building.
With love,
Joe and Will