A year into a three-year fundraising drive, the gap is widening and summer is coming.
Aberdeen Arts Centre needs £60,000 in the next six weeks. That’s the latest milestone in the Save Aberdeen Arts Centre campaign, a three-year drive to raise £660,000 and secure the venue’s future. A year in, the centre hasn’t yet reached a third of its three-year target of £660,000.
The timing pressure is specific. Creative Scotland funding, a key part of the long-term plan, doesn’t open until 2027 and won’t be awarded until 2028. Executive director Holly Paterson is plain about the gap: “We’re still working towards the next round of Creative Scotland funding, but we need help to get to that point.”
Closing the gap
To close the gap, the centre is asking everyone who comes through the door for a show or a class to give £20. As Paterson puts it, that’s less than a takeaway or a round of drinks.
The venue has been open for over 60 years. Inside is the Children’s Theatre, opened in the 1950s and the first youth theatre of its kind in the UK, now used as a professional development space for artists. More than 35 local theatre companies, dance schools, music ensembles, and performing groups use the building, with over 5,000 local performers on stage every year.
What the centre is asking its community to fund is the gap between now and a funding round that is still two years away. That’s an uncomfortable position to be in publicly, and the campaign doesn’t dress it up.
Full details and the donation page are on the Save Aberdeen Arts Centre page.
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