Anne Louise Kershaw, our Community & Outreach Programme Producer, introduces our new programme #HOMEinspires…
I’m really pleased to be launching this blog and our #HOMEinspires programme this week here at HOME. All of this is to be space, both online and in HOME, where we can share and showcase the great work being made in the many community groups, voluntary organisations and charities that we work with as part of our overall Engagement Programme here at HOME.
This all stems from our £1 Inspire ticket scheme, which began when HOME did, just over three years ago. Funded by the Oglesby Charitable Trust, this enables us to provide £1 theatre tickets to people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to engage with what we have happening here. This scheme has been a real success and has lead to us building partnerships with some of the city’s most essential groups, who are all doing amazing work.
The scheme has gradually evolved as we have learnt more about the needs and limitations, issues and ideas of the groups we are connecting with. As well as the theatre tickets, we offer some cinema tickets (supported by the BFI), and tram tickets to support travel. We also do regular building tours and exhibition tours and continuously seek to find ways to help people feel welcome in a space they maybe have never been in, or for a multitude of reasons do not feel is for them, or cannot ordinarily visit.
Through all this we aim to continuously build these relationships so that people feel welcome and comfortable and feel that HOME is a place for them to simply be; whether enjoying a show, chilling in the café, or just calling in to escape the rain and rest on a sofa somewhere. HOME is a home for everyone, no matter what your lived experience may be.
Through all the different outreach visits we do, it has become increasingly apparent that these groups are encouraging and harbouring an abundance of artists and cultural makers who we want to connect with further. And so #HOMEinspires has been developed.
#HOMEinspires is our new programme that showcases this work. It includes our Inspire Gallery on the ground floor in the bar, A City Seen – our quarterly film night, ongoing access to our successful £1 Inspire ticket scheme and this blog, which is to be a space to share what we are developing and who we are working with. We will also invite people from different partnering groups and organisations to post on here and share their creative thoughts with you.
Why not call by to check out our first Inspire Gallery exhibition, Arrival by The Booth Centre, and come along to the next A City Seen screening on Mon 1 Oct when we screen The Spirit Of Hulme.
#HOMEinspires will draw on the wealth of creativity from a multitude of perspectives and it’s a joy to be able to work with such amazing groups to be able to do that. Watch this space!