Hofesh Shechter Company are extremely thankful to the Treasury, the Culture Secretary and the teams at the DCMS and ACE for awarding us a grant from the Culture Recovery Fund.
This welcome news comes after many months of cancelled performances and projects, resulting in a significant loss to our earned income, and is the vital support we need to start rebuilding our live and digital programme, whilst adapting to the changing circumstances and strengthening our future resilience. We have renewed hope moving forwards and remain hugely grateful to those at the heart of everything we do. Your continued support, faith, dedication and inspiration has been our driving force – thank you.
Whilst we celebrate this news and the other positive outcomes received by our friends across the sector, and look forward to the benefits it will bring to artists, communities, audiences and wider teams, we do appreciate that help has not reached everyone. We still have a long way to go to bring the arts back to the vibrant sector it was before the pandemic and we are committed to doing all we can in our role as part of its recovery.
Our Artistic Director Hofesh Shechter said:
‘I feel an incredible sense of relief that Hofesh Shechter Company has been supported by the DCMS and ACE through the Culture Recovery Fund. To those who made this decision – thank you. This is a meaningful step, a meaningful moment and a critical one, bringing renewed hope to the dancers, the team, the company and all its freelance collaborators and will, in return, have a direct impact on all those we wish to inspire.
The last 7 months have been difficult for all of us collectively and this offers the arts an opportunity to rebuild the foundations for a creative future. There are still many challenges ahead – but it is the lifeline we need to move forward with more certainty. It allows us to progress from survival mode to the hopeful state of recovery. We will continue in our endeavours to bring the company back to action, back to work, to create, to inspire and engage audiences, students, the professional dance scene as well as all art forms and people. We must do so whilst adapting and finding new ways to help the arts thrive again. This fund gives us a chance to do this and we will do all we can to achieve it.
Thank you for giving a much needed sense of hope in these trying times.’
Hofesh Shechter
