> Local dance theatre company celebrates £100,000-plus Arts Council funding
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Local dance theatre company celebrates £100,000-plus Arts Council funding
Barnsley-based Qdos Dance Theatre Company is one of nine new Yorkshire organisations to benefit from the latest round of funding and has become an Arts Council regularly-funded organisation for the first time. The company has been awarded £50,000 for 2009-2010 and £51,350 for 2010-2011 to continue and develop its work.
A total of 109 bodies will receive a share of the £81 million allocated to Yorkshire from Arts Council England’s total budget of £1.6 billion, to be spent between 2008 and 2011.
The Arts Council said that this investment of Government and National Lottery money focuses on strong and effective arts organisations which collectively help to increase engagement in the arts across the population and provide greater arts activity in priority places, such as Barnsley.
Anjie Taylor, Artistic Director, Qdos Dance Theatre Company, said: “I’m so overjoyed. This funding comes at a crucial time for Qdos. In 2008 we are concentrating on developing a sustainable future for the company, and this award will help us to realise our full potential.
“I’d like to thank the Arts Council, the arts development team at Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, Valley Community Centre, and all our partners for their support in attaining this status.
“I am really pleased that we will be able to expand and develop our innovative and unique way of working with the people of Barnsley.”
Andy Carver, Executive Director for Arts Council England, Yorkshire, said: “Today we demonstrate our vision for the arts in this region. We believe that as a result of our investment over the next three years, the arts in Yorkshire will be of even higher quality, and accessible to even more people than they are now.
“We will create a climate for excellence by focusing our investment in strong and effective arts organisations that will collectively help us to increase attendance and participation in high quality arts, provide greater arts activity in our priority places, and strengthen the visual arts. I am looking forward to working with the creative talents of our regional arts sector to make this vision a reality.”
Other new Yorkshire beneficiaries include; Diversity Dance in Huddersfield The Hepworth Gallery, Wakefield, Bradford Galleries and Museums (including Cartwright Hall and the new Bradford 1 Gallery), Sheffield Galleries and Museums Trust (including The Millennium Galleries) and the New Performance Venue in Doncaster.