The Forum, a beloved venue in Darlington, 20 miles east of Durham, are launching a community share offer on Friday the 20th of September with the hopes that its long-term future can be secured. In May, the venue received £404,000 in funding from the Arts Council to in order to make major renovations and improvements to the building.
However, in order for the venue to unlock this money, it needs to raise around £50,000. In order to raise this money, members of the community are being offered the opportunity to buy shares of the venue which will give them voting rights in future running of the studio.
A community share offer is a way to enable those in the Darlington community to invest in The Forum and is a way to raise money for the local project and it enables the money raised to be pooled together.
Alongside the opportunity for investment, The Forum are running a raffle with music-related prizes. Each ticket costs just £5 and all of the money raised will go towards the fundraising efforts.
As reported by the Darlington and Stockton Times, the idea for the raffle emerged when author Pete Bulloch offered up a signed copy of his book, ‘Hope the Dude Can Play.’ The book chronicles one of the most famous nights in Darlington’s music history, following the events that occurred when Jimi Hendrix’ guitar was stolen from the Blue Pad Club in the Imperial Hotel on the evening of February 2, 1967.
Alongside Bulloch’s book, the raffle also features a collage of Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits made up of several genuine back stage and VIP passes from some of the band’s shows. There is also a limited addition Amy Winehouse artwork up for grabs, made by the local artist Terry Kneeshaw.
In response to The Forum’s news of being awarded their investment, founder, CEO and director Allison Mckay said: “This is an exciting phase of growth for our much loved music and arts venue. However the real exciting trigger for these ambitious developments will initiate the launch of a Share Offer enabling local people to become members of The Forum through shared ownership, along with voting rights.”
The renovation plans for The Forum includes a new recording studio with sensory and high-quality digital production in order to enable larger bands and ensembles to record. There are also plans for new private green room facilities, accessible audience viewing mezzanine, and plans to reduce the venue’s carbon footprint by installing solar panels and an eco-friendly roof garden.
The venue also wants to extend their kitchen, with the hopes that the aforementioned changes will increase the number of visitors which will therefore increase the number of opportunities for local food social entrepreneurs to operate a daily food service.
