We’ve Moved…

Aside from turning 70, our other big news for this year is that we have moved to our office base to Crawley! We now have a beautiful, fully accessible space with offices and meeting rooms, a lovely big hall for workshops and gatherings, a gorgeous courtyard garden and even a professional kitchen - though that’s full of tech equipment and unpacked boxes at the moment.

Formerly known as West Green Community Centre, it’s right opposite Crawley Hospital and in the heart of a residential community. We have way more space than TC needs but our plan is to share it with other creative companies and artists to create a real cultural hub for Crawley. We’re working in partnership with Creative Crawley and Crawley’s CPP Creative Playground and we’re already running events together and welcoming people into the space – we just need the right name for it now!

As a national touring theatre company that uses a Hub model to reach deep into local communities, a move out of London was always probable, and when the Arts Council invited companies to consider being part of the NPO Transfer programme, it seemed like a natural step for us to take. The only question was where to move to? We spent ages looking at our existing networks and partnerships with teachers, schools, creatives, theatres, etc, all over the country, mapping potential opportunities. We were very keen to make sure we went where we already had relationships but where there was potential to build more, and where there was some cultural infrastructure in place but there was space for our contribution to compliment and augment what was already there. We wanted to go where we were wanted and where we were needed and Crawley feels like the perfect place.

We’re making friends, discovering the huge number of local artists and finding ways to work with them. We’re making plans with the teachers and schools we have been working with and taking shows into for years and starting to plan Future Makers activity with the young people of Crawley both in their schools and in their communities.

We have so much planned for the rest of this year and into next and are super excited to keep you posted. First stop Crawley Stories, the first volume of our Local Voices, Global Perspectives podcasts – launching on 8th November in our very own new home!