On Wednesday 10 September, the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford hosted a 60th Birthday Concert to celebrate a milestone anniversary, and the completion of a regenerative building project thanks to some substantial funding by Your Fund Surrey.
In June 2023, Surrey County Council approved over £2million Your Fund Surrey Large Community Project funding for the Yvonne Arnaud’s ‘Play Your Part’ capital campaign, to transform the much-loved venue into a cultural community hub with theatre at its core. This is the largest amount of funding awarded to a single project by Your Fund Surrey.
Over the past two years, the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre have worked hard to deliver radical improvements. These include a new accessible lift, toilets across all floors, multi-purpose rooms for community groups, a new front of house, and ground floor foyer.
During the celebration concert, VIP guests, including His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, experienced the new accessible multi-purpose spaces, designed with the wider community in mind. They also enjoyed incredible performances representing six decades of theatre, including the volunteer choir and Young Company.
Established in 1965, the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre has played an important role for Guildford and the wider Surrey community for 60 years. It has significantly contributed to both local economic growth and cultural development, and already delivers a number of community initiatives and outreach programmes. The renovations made possible by Your Fund Surrey will see the venue welcome new groups, and continue to meet the needs of communities in Surrey for the next 50 years.
Denise Turner-Stewart, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Communities and Community said: “We would like to congratulate the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre on the delivery of this flagship Your Fund Surrey project, thanks to over £2million of Large Community Projects Funding, to develop Guildford’s iconic and much-beloved building into a friendly, accessible community hub to serve the whole of Surrey.
“Your Fund Surrey is all about empowering our residents to Make It Happen, by significantly investing in projects that will make a real lasting impact for local communities.
“This long-anticipated renovation project at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre is a great example of how Your Fund Surrey investment has been used to create vibrant, resilient spaces where residents and community groups can come together for social and cultural enrichment, both now and in the future.
“At Surrey County Council, we are really proud to have contributed significantly to this project that makes the arts much more accessible for all. We look forward to seeing the future community initiatives that the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre will be able to support, thanks to the new and transformed facilities.”
Joanna Read, Theatre Director and Chief Executive of Yvonne Arnaud said: “We can’t thank Surrey County Council’s Your Fund Surrey enough for supporting our determination to make the theatre accessible and sustainable for the future. We are also hugely grateful to the very many people who, early in our journey, wrote letters of support for our ambitions to refurbish the theatre, and those who were able to donate to our campaign.
“We are delighted that our building is now able to welcome even more people to enjoy the fantastic benefits of theatre and arts participation.”
Notes to editors:
Your Fund Surrey
Surrey County Council’s Your Fund Surrey initiative launched in 2020 to support projects that deliver substantial and lasting benefits to communities across the county. Since then, the fund has enabled residents to contribute to the enhancement of their local environment, fostering a sense of ownership and community pride.
By investing in a diverse range of projects, from building new community spaces, to enhancing cultural venues and developing green spaces, Your Fund Surrey has played a key role in building vibrant, resilient communities for now and the future, and leaves a lasting legacy of what can happen when communities come together to Make it Happen in their local areas.
Surrey News 
Discussion
Comments are closed.