One of Sundae’s first missions for Contact, Manchester’s critically acclaimed, trail-blazing theatre and arts venue, led and programmed by young people, was to help launch the final phase of its Capital Redevelopment fundraising campaign, with a target of 500k, after raising over £6m of its £6.65m target.
The rousing campaign was launched with Making Contact, an event at Manchester Art Gallery introduced by Contact advocate Julie Hesmondhalgh, Contact’s Chief Executive & Artistic Director Matt Fenton, and an inspiring performance from Contact Young Company’s radical 5* show She Bangs The Drums.
Front and centre of the campaign was Con:Struct, the dedicated team of young people aged 13-30 leading the project to transform the building for the next generation of audiences, artists and young people. They revealed the plans for the building, which is looking to reopen in Summer 2019, along with a new film to introduce Contact to a wider audience.
A new arts and health space has been funded by a Wellcome Trust grant of £500,000. This will provide a dedicated space to develop new partnerships and relationships with NHS, patient groups, young people, local communities and artists. Additional funding will support a three-year post of Health Producer to lead on projects and produce new theatre shows that explore health inequalities and other current issues.
Support from trusts and foundations follows initial grants from Arts Council England and Manchester City Council. In addition, Contact has received in kind support and with Contact’s own funds and individual donations this brought the total secured to date to £6,161,133.
They had already achieved an incredible and inspiring amount, so our job was to shine a light on their work, whilst helping put Contact in front of new people, to grow their audience and fanbase, as well as introducing the company new possible sources of funds.
We shared Contact’s news with broad spread of press from the regional Manchester media, national arts press, theatre, architectural and business press. We achieved key coverage including news and features, plus interviews with Contact ambassador Julie Hesmondhalgh, in Architects Journal, Northern Soul, Manchester Confidential, Manchester Theatre Awards, Manchester’s Finest, Manchester Evening News, VIVA Magazine and British Theatre Guide.
We also delved into our own little black book and invited our favourite creatives, influencers and business owners along to the event. The turnout was amazing and despite a very sunny day, the event was packed to the rafters with new and existing fans of Contact.
The Contact team are well and truly on their way to achieving their fundraising target and this event was the first step on a very exciting road and a journey that we are honoured to travel with them.
