De La Warr Pavilion awarded £45,000 from Art Fund’s RE-IMAGINE Programme for community partnerships

The De La Warr Pavilion is delighted to announce that we have been awarded £45,000 over the next two years through Art Fund’s Reimagine grants programme. Art Fund has awarded £1million to museums and galleries across the UK reliant on local authority support. This latest round of the programme supports museums to reimagine their approach to partnerships.

This funding will allow DLWP to continue working with our valued community partners including established and emerging artists and organisations to strengthen, build and sustain the arts ecology in Bexhill, Rother and wider into Sussex.

We continue to work together with Rother District Council, to ensure excellent cultural activities and access to our Grade I listed building are kept free to accessible to all.

Stewart Drew, Director and CEO of the De La Warr Pavilion said:

Our surveys tell us that 86% of our visitors agree that DLWP is welcoming to all the community and 75% agree DLWP encourages participation in community life and events. Responding to vulnerable local authority funding, this fund allows us to continue our vital work with the community and re-imagine our approach, increasing resilience and building a creative and skills-based ecology in which we can all thrive.

Jenny Waldman, Director, Art Fund, said:

We’re extremely pleased to offer £1million in support to local-authority reliant museums and galleries across the UK through this latest round of Reimagine grants. The projects showcase the incredible value local museums have for communities and demonstrate their remarkable ambition, resilience and entrepreneurial spirit in the face of growing challenges.

Further information will be announced soon.

About De La Warr Pavilion

The De La Warr Pavilion (DLWP) is a centre for arts, culture, creativity and skills in a Grade One Listed iconic modernist building by the sea, designed by refugee Erich Mendelsohn and émigré Serge Chermayeff. It opened in 1935 as the ‘people’s palace for art and culture’ and, almost 90 years later, continues to produce an innovative and integrated cultural programme of exhibitions, learning and creative engagement as well as a diverse and popular programme of live music and comedy. DLWP sits at the heart of its community taking the lead in the development of skills and cultural tourism the region and plays a central role in the cultural and economic growth of Sussex.

As a result of the De La Warr Pavilion’s community engagement approach, in 2023/24 it:

  • Presented 4 free outdoor film screenings
  • Hosted 64 community group and private hires
  • Employed 149 staff, 89% of whom live in the local area
  • Worked with 20 local volunteers
  • Programmed 39 free creative family events and 25 free Blueprint Collective creative sessions for 16 – 22 year olds
  • Welcomed 700 people to the Bexhill Jobs and Apprenticeships Fair
  • Engaged over 11000 young people with our learning and skills programmes
  • Worked with 43 primary, secondary and SEND/SEMH schools, and colleges
  • Hosted 24 drop in sessions for Bexhill’s Ukrainian Refugees and hosted Refugee Week events with the Refugee Buddy Project, Hastings Rother & Wealden
  • Welcomed 325 children from families who receive free school meals into our music, heritage, arts and free food holiday clubs

The De La Warr Pavilion receives core revenue funding from Arts Council England (NPO) and Rother District Council.

Re-imagine Grants

Reimagine grants are funded by Art Fund and made possible with support from The Headley Trust, alongside other generous trusts and supporters of the Making Connections campaign.

The funding has been prioritised to support local authority-reliant museums and galleries in response to Art Fund’s Museum Directors Survey 2024 and other pieces of research revealing the significant challenges currently facing museums and galleries.

Art Fund

Art Fund is the UK’s independent charity for art, helping museums and people to share in great art and culture for 120 years. Art Fund raises millions of pounds every year to help the UK’s museums, galleries and historic houses. The charity funds art, enabling the UK’s museums to buy and share exciting works, connect with their communities, and inspire the next generation. It builds audiences with its National Art Pass opening doors to great culture; and it amplifies the museum sector through the world’s largest museum prize, Art Fund Museum of the Year, and creative events that bring the UK’s museums together. Art Fund is people-powered by 135,000 members who buy a National Art Pass, and the donors, trusts and foundations who support the charity.

The National Art Pass provides free or discounted entry to over 400 museums, galleries and historic places, 50% off major exhibitions, and Art Quarterly magazine.

www.artfund.org

The De La Warr Pavilion has gained support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for its Transforming Heritage: Creativity, Community and Skills project.

This significant project will deliver much needed cultural-led regeneration, improving the lives of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged people in Rother by building on the iconic status and local significance of the De La Warr Pavilion through refurbished and redeveloped spaces and creativity and skills programmes. By making the Pavilion more accessible, resilient and inclusive, it will showcase the transformative power of culture and heritage, offering a vibrant and culturally enriched future for all its communities. It will also serve as a unifying force, bringing communities together, creating opportunity and returning the building to its original purpose as a People’s Palace.

Development funding of £219,258 has been awarded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to progress our plans to apply for capital funding in 2025. This initial support from the Heritage Fund is made possible by National Lottery players.

A successful Heritage Fund would enable us to

  • Preserve the heritage of the building by repairing and refurbishing original and iconic spaces
  • Make spaces more physically accessible and inclusive by unlocking community learning and skills programmes for all our communities
  • Redevelop spaces for commercial and mixed use, so the Pavilion can grow its business model ensuring future financial sustainability.
  • Improve the environmental sustainability of the organisation
  • Help us reach our fundraising goals for the full capital scheme. Read here about our Levelling Up award here: www.dlwp.com/luf

The Heritage Fund Development grant allows us to work with a number of consultants to look at specific areas or our work, particularly in regard to our heritage, access, digital, inclusion and participation, which will feed into the project and ensure that the future of the organization is meaningful and of value to the communities that we serve. They will be running consultations with our partners, visitors and the public throughout the autumn while plans are being developed.

Stewart Drew Director and CEO of the De La Warr Pavilion said:

‘We are thrilled to have the initial support of The National Lottery Heritage Fund to enable us to continue with our plans for the Transforming Heritage: Creativity, Community and Skills capital project. It presents a wonderful opportunity to speak to our communities about accessibility, inclusion and participation and to work towards preserving the heritage of our Grade One Listed building for everyone to enjoy now and in the future.’

About the Project

In January 2023, Bexhill heard the amazing news that it had been awarded £19m from the UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund for Bexhill and Sidley. Read more here.

In April 2024 we announced Haworth Tompkins as architects for the project. Read more here.

Support from the Heritage Fund will help us realise this ambitious project.

About The National Lottery Heritage Fund

The National Lottery Heritage Fund is the largest funder for the UK’s heritage. Using money raised by National Lottery players we support projects that connect people and communities to heritage. Our vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future. From historic buildings, our industrial legacy and the natural environment, to collections, traditions, stories and more. Heritage can be anything from the past that people value and want to pass on to future generations. We believe in the power of heritage to ignite the imagination, offer joy and inspiration, and to build pride in place and connection to the past.

www.heritagefund.org.uk

De La Warr Pavilion logo                     The National Lottery Heritage Fund logo.