Mixed news for Ludlow Assembly Rooms

Ludlow Town Council has approved a £15,000 grant for the arts facility in the town centre.

But it has agreed to provide the support for one year instead of the three-year deal wanted by the Assembly Rooms.

However, councillors have not ruled out continued support in the future but that this will be a decision for a new town council that will be elected next year.

The Assembly Rooms say that the grant support from Ludlow Town Council is vital because it provides a source of guaranteed income and can be used to generate other funding.

In order to generate other grants, it is important for the Assembly Rooms to be able to demonstrate in a tangible way that it is valued by the town.

However, the Assembly Rooms that is part way through a five-year strategic plan will be disappointed that it has not been able to secure a firm longer term commitment from the town council.

In its application, the Assembly Rooms makes it clear that it is never going to be able to pay its way through ticket sales and hire income although it has been able to significantly increase its income.

‘This is why we have a five-year development plan, having anticipated that public sector funding would diminish over the coming years,’ said the Assembly Rooms in its grant application.

‘Continuing support from Ludlow Town Council will both help attract external funding and ensure the focus of external fundraising activity can be directed towards raising the capital funding required for our long-term sustainability, rather than plugging short-term funding gaps.’

The Assembly Rooms says that in 2015-16 it screened 120 films and sold 25,000 tickets.

It staged a pantomime performed by the Ludlow-based Appletree Theatre Group and was used by two local amateur groups to stage shows.

Ludlow College students also performed their annual show at the Assembly Rooms and students were also able to spend a week with members of the technical team learning about lighting, sound and other backstage skills.

Other activities included ‘A weekend of words’, including a holocaust survivor, attended by more than 100 school children, Under Milk Wood, Alan Johnson MP and poet Carole Anne Duffy.

There were also 40 live screenings from the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company and English National Opera.

Ludlow Assembly Rooms is also the home of the town’s Visitor Information Centre and is used by a number of clubs.

However, despite its successes, the Assembly Rooms remains dependent upon grants and subsidies for its survival at a time when public funding is becoming harder to win.

It is also heavily dependent upon volunteers and has a team of 150 volunteers in different roles including stewarding, box office and film projection.

However, the number of volunteers has been declining over recent years, causing concerns.

In an attempt to try to reverse this, a successful funding bid was made to The Esmee Fairburn Foundation for a three-year project to increase the number of volunteers.