Seasons Greetings from BPT

As 2020 draws to a close (and what a year it’s been for us all) we send good wishes and good health to everyone.

It seems a long time ago now when the country went into lockdown for the first time, we were in the middle of a weekly workshop programme and meeting new people from across the city, listening to what they wanted and making plans.

Like all of you, in March we threw our plans out of the window.

However, thanks to the positivity of our members and the support of our funders we moved our workshops online and we’ve been running these for eight months now. There’s been laughter and friendship, and we’ve learnt a lot.

In June we launched Open Up Arts, a report summarising a piece of community-led research we worked on throughout 2019 with communities in Hangelton and East Brighton. We believe that listening to the voices of residents is vital when thinking about how arts organisations should work in and with communities.

In July we were out on the streets of Brighton, making short films with some of our members that captured some of the most moving and inspiring pieces of work that they created through our online workshop process.

In September we worked with writer Rebecca Manley and composer Toby Park to co-create a mini pantomime called 12 Days. We worked with twenty members from across the city to create a satirical, uplifting pantomime that celebrated all that key workers have done for our communities this year. Unfortunately, due to the second lockdown, we didn’t get to make it, but this film captures some of the fun we had writing it.

And now we’re really excited to be expanding our workshop programme in January 2021. There will be workshops online, in Whitehawk and in the town centre. If you are interested in joining us you can find out more here.

We’re now looking for some Christmas characters amongst our supporters. Can you help?

We subsidise our workshops for those on low incomes. We are constantly fundraising so we can prioritise our resources in reaching those in the City who haven’t had the chance to get involved in theatre before. Can you help us reach more people in 2021 and expand our workshops further to communities in Portslade, Bevendean and Tarner?

• A £15 Elf gift subsidises one place at a workshop
• A £45 Angel gift helps towards bringing in outside artists with specialist skills
• A £100 Santa gift helps with termly access costs to remove barriers to attendance

Join our Christmas cast list, be a star and donate here.

Thank you for your ongoing support and encouragement. We wish you lots of festive cheer and goodwill.

Team BPT

The Christmas card design above was drawn by our member Shirley, responding to the work we’ve been doing through our online workshops around the ’12 Days of Christmas’.