A Brighter Future For Diverse City
Today, Diverse City received £275,690 from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as part of the government’s Culture Recovery Fund. We are going to invest a key part of this money in a Big Top Tent. We will use it to house integrated circus company Extraordinary Bodies, our partnership with leading show makers Cirque Bijou.
Our tent will allow us to recover with a safe, flexible, mobile space for shows, community projects and rehearsal. We will be able to bring D/deaf, disabled and non-disabled creatives together to create original work for and in communities across the south west and nationally.
The news is part of today’s announcement of the first tranche of the Culture Recovery Fund – £257m of funding for 1385 theatres, arts venues, museums and cultural organisations across the country.
Our Team‘s Reaction and Feelings
We asked Jamie Beddard, our Co-Artistic Director, what he felt when he heard the news:
“We’re delighted to have been successful at a key time for disabled people and artists. We are fighting to stay visible, keep the gains we have made and make sure our needs and voices are central to cultural recovery. Diverse City receiving Culture Recovery Fund support gives us opportunity to drive real change. It allows us to enhance our projects, develop our alliances and continue to push for the world we seek.”
Extraordinary Bodies and Cirque Bijou Co-Artistic Director, Billy Alwen joined him in saying:
“This will have a major impact in the way circus by D/deaf, disabled and non-disabled artists is toured and enjoyed. It will put D/deaf and disabled artists at the forefront of taking circus to new audiences in the heart of their communities.”
Diverse City and Extraordinary Bodies Co-Artistic Director Claire Hodgson MBE also expressed her relief at the news:
“At last we can breathe a bit and move into a more secure future. March 2020 cancelled all our shows and tours leaving us and all our freelance professionals, in an unsafe financial place. Now we’ll be able to restart with those creatives. We’ll be able to work safely with Extraordinary Bodies Young Artists and reach isolated creative communities. We will also have a great platform from which to start again and contribute to a wider, critical, social recovery.”
Press Enquiries
You can contact Becky via e-mail [email protected] as well as on the phone at 07952619763 to arrange interviews with Diverse City’s Co-Artistic Directors Claire Hodgson MBE and Jamie Beddard, or with Billy Alwen, Co-Artistic Director of Extraordinary Bodies and Cirque Bijou.
