Message from the CEO April 2020

Dear friends and supporters,

I hope this message finds you and your families safe and well.

In June 2018, we closed the doors of our building to create a new space to match our ambitions and I was poised to write to you with an update as we had started to count down the days to unveiling our beautiful new theatre.

As I write now, works on our site have just started up again following a temporary pause as our construction team Kier continue to review and adapt its procedures to the ever changing circumstances that we find impacting all our lives. At this time, the safety and welfare of everyone is the priority.

When we dimmed the lights at the start of our transformation, we promised a new theatre as the beating heart of community life in the city, bringing exciting opportunities and growth for Cornwall. That vision burns bright and when all of this is over, we will have a fabulous new venue.

We’ve worked with passion, grit and gusto over the past three years to raise over £20.2 million towards our transformation. As a charity, we have been overwhelmed by your support and kindness, particularly in the last week. I would like to say a personal thank you to each of you who have been able to donate, volunteer for our heritage projects, attended our community presentations, chosen to name a seat in our new auditorium, and been part of our youth and community programmes. Your engagement is critical at this time and especially, when like many arts organisations and charities, we are having to re-think or pause all activity for the time being.

Over the coming weeks and months, our focus will be on supporting our staff to ensure that the dedicated work on our transformation project will continue at pace, as and when we are able. We will certainly keep you posted as we know more and will be asking for all your support in the near future as we launch a public campaign to help get our building open as soon as we can.

We are seriously impatient to re-open our doors again; to show it all off to you and welcome you again and again to all the fun, amazement and emotion that we will all share - together.

In the meantime, please take care and stay safe.

With best wishes

Julien Boast