The £1 million Dundee Cultural Recovery Fund, established to support Dundee’s leading independent cultural organisations, is over two thirds of the way to achieving its target.
Since the fund was launched on 20 August the campaign has raised £355,000 in donations, bringing the total to £710,000 with match funding from The Northwood Charitable Trust. The Northwood Charitable Trust, the Thomson family’s private charitable organisation, has offered £500,000 to the campaign as a challenge fund, to match other contributions pound-for-pound.
Contributions have been made by the Leng Charitable Trust, Mathew Trust, RJ Larg Family Trust, the Lethendy Charitable Trust, Tay Charitable Trust, MHA Henderson Loggie, Young family, and Morris and Joyce Leslie. £200,000 had already been received from generous private donors including Tim Allan and Alasdair Locke.
The campaign’s focus is on encouraging support from major donors who have previously supported Dundee’s world-class cultural organisations, as well as businesses and cultural philanthropists keen to support the city’s recovery from COVID-19.
The fundraising campaign, which is led by V&A Dundee, will benefit Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee Heritage Trust (operator of Discovery Point and Verdant Works), Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre, Dundee Science Centre, and V&A Dundee. Its aim is to offset some of the financial impact of the COVID-19 crisis and kick-start Dundee’s cultural and economic recovery.
Shona Robison MSP for Dundee City East said: “I welcome and applaud V&A Dundee for establishing the Dundee Cultural Recovery Fund. This fund will be a significant contribution towards Dundee’s economic and cultural recovery from COVID-19, and V&A Dundee has shown strong leadership and initiative by championing this cause.
“To have already reached over £700,000 is a fantastic achievement, and I commend all who have supported and donated to this campaign so far.”
Christopher Thomson, Trustee, The Northwood Charitable Trust said: “So far, the response to this campaign has been outstanding. We’re very proud to see people and organisations throughout Dundee coming together in this way to help secure and support our cultural organisations and community.
“We hope that our contribution to the cultural recovery in Dundee helps to safeguard our world-class venues but also, importantly, ensures that their wider economic impact and learning and community programmes continue to benefit everyone in the city and beyond.”
Beth Bate, Director of Dundee Contemporary Arts said: “The Cultural Recovery Fund and the significant amount of money raised so far is a fantastic example of what can be achieved through partnership working in Dundee.
“Like many sectors, culture faces a challenging future and we are delighted the fund has received this support from so many generous donors who share our belief in the economic, social and creative benefits of our work.”
Tim Allan, Chair of V&A Dundee, said: “I am thrilled to see the generous support shown by private individuals, business, trusts and foundations for the Dundee Cultural Recovery Fund over the last month.
“These donations are a fantastic vote of confidence in Dundee’s major cultural organisations, which will be crucial to Dundee’s recovery, with their widespread economic and social benefits felt across all communities.
“With £700,000 of the £1 million target raised so far, the Dundee Cultural Recovery Fund is on target to provide vital support to the visitor economy in the city, investing in the future economic success of Dundee’s cultural sector. But we are still pushing on and all donations are gratefully received.”
All contributions to the Dundee Cultural Recovery Fund are very welcome: contact barry.ferguson@vandadundee.org
ENDS
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Notes to editors:
The Northwood Charitable Trust
The Northwood Charitable Trust provides financial support to help enhance people’s lives through a wide range of charitable organisations. The current annual giving programme is £3M.
The main funding themes are: addressing deprivation, poverty and inequality; advancing educational attainment; progressing physical and mental health and wellbeing; supporting community, heritage and cultural enrichment.
In response to COVID-19, The Northwood Charitable Trust has given some financial support to organisations which are helping some of the most vulnerable groups at this time. This has included children and families suffering extreme hardship, the elderly, those affected by food poverty, homelessness, substance misuse (and those in recovery), domestic abuse or mental health concerns.
The Northwood Charitable Trust was established in 1972 to benefit charitable organisations. It was originally funded by a Thomson family member who donated his shares in the family business; this business now operates as DC Thomson which is a private company and is one of the leading media organisations in the UK.
Subsequent members of the Thomson family have provided continuity and leadership of the private Trust and the wider family has continued to donate to the charitable fund. The current Trustees, who are family members, remain committed to upholding the values of the founder and the objectives of the Trust.
Dundee Contemporary Arts
Dundee Contemporary Arts reopened to the public on Friday 4 September. Since then it has welcomed audiences back to its cinema, print studio, exhibitions and learning programmes alongside DCA Shop and Jute Café Bar. Current highlights of the cinema programme include Schemers, filmed and set in Dundee, and acclaimed independent horror Saint Maud. DCA‘s current exhibition, If Wishes Were Thrushes, Beggars Would Eat Birds, is a newly-commissioned body of work by Birmingham-based artist Stuart Whipps. Alongside the exhibition, DCA Create Space, now temporarily hosted in gallery 1, offers a range of free family activities inspired by Whipps’ work. Tickets for all activity are available at dca.org.uk .
Dundee Heritage Trust (operator of Discovery Point and Verdant Works)
Discovery Point and Verdant Works are now both fully re-open 7 days a week, with all galleries and exhibits at the museums accessible to visitors. Both museums open at 10.00am (11.00 on Sunday) and close at 4.30pm. For further information see www.rrsdiscovery.com and www.verdantworks.com
Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre
Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre does not have a re-opening date for the public as of yet; however, our presence within the city has remained in the forefront of our audiences and the community through several programmes we have presented since lockdown started in March. In April we launched Where are you Dundee, a 10-week programme featuring a series of videos with tasks for participants. The dedicated website attracted over 2,100 unique visitors with nearly 300 participant videos being uploaded into the online galleries. Look out soon for our pop-up performances and artistic interventions with This is for you Dundee. In September we launched Digital Buzz, a new project that brings together all of our weekly classes for young people, with bursary places available to help remove barriers to participation. Our ensemble continues to find ways to stay connected with audiences; over the summer they presented The Case of the Moneybags Murderer, their first virtual production, and are currently exploring ways to keep the Christmas magic alive and celebrate the season with our audiences. Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre remain committed to providing Dundee and Scotland with the dance and theatre of national and international significance, for and with a diverse audience, and look forward to welcoming everyone back in the future.
Dundee Science Centre
Dundee Science Centre will reopen with a light weekend programme from November onwards. Tickets will be available for purchase from late October. Currently the Centre is reimagining and upgrading the ground-floor facilities and integrating widening access to transform the visitor attraction into an even more accessible community hub. Now in its 20th year the Centre continues to engage and inspire our visitors with our Science @ Home Activities kits and STEM on-line learning programme.
V&A Dundee
V&A Dundee is currently showing Mary Quant, the first international retrospective on the iconic British designer, as well as a major project with Turner Prize-winning architecture collective Assemble, Dundee Central Library and young people in the city. Across the museum, both inside and out, there is a new exhibition on design’s response to the pandemic. Mary Quant will run until 17 January 2021 and tickets are available at www.vam.ac.uk/dundee