Making Light Work of theatre improvements

McQueens Theatre will have some new theatre lighting when the young people return to face-to-face sessions in the Spring.

Steve Medlin, director of Collage Voices, explains: “We had a Christmas appeal and an on-line fundraising event which raised nearly £1,000. We have since had a generous donation of some additional lights which will help transform the space for our workshops and performances, when we can all be back together.”

Lights are not the only change. McQueens Studio, now has central heating radiators and an air movement system to make the space more covid compliant. In the past few months the space has been painted, curtains added and new fabric coverings added to the acoustic panels.

The gents’ toilets have also been reconfigured to make social distancing possible.

Steve continues: “We still have a way to go to get everything in place in McQueens. But the fundraising efforts by Collage Arts and our supporters mean that we have delivered a £40,000 make-over to the space. We wanted to make use of the time when the building was not being used to make some change that would usually be very disruptive.

2020 was very challenging time for charities. We had backing of the National Lottery Community Fund which has been a lifeline. We decided that we had to come back stronger and ready to support the community to make exciting work. Thank you to everyone who has made a direct contribution as well as anyone who has bought a lottery ticket – you have made us a winner.”