Sunderland's National Glass Centre granted £40,000 to help venue reopen

The grant, from Art Fund’s Respond and Reimagine programme, will support operator Sunderland Culture in reopening National Glass Centre later in the summer, and reimagine its popular glassmaking experience.

Art Fund is a national fundraising charity for art, providing millions of pounds every year to help museums acquire works of art, further the development of curators, and inspire more people to visit their public programmes.

The Art Fund’s Respond and Reimagine programme provides funding designed to meet challenges connected to the COVID-19 crisis and

reimagine future ways of working.

Keith Merrin, chief executive of Sunderland Culture, said: “The COVID-enforced closure has been over our busiest time of year, including three school holidays, and obviously has had a financial impact. We’re incredibly grateful to Art Fund for this generous grant which will

make a real difference to us.

“It will help us to prepare for a safe reopening, giving staff and guests peace of mind to feel comfortable in returning to National Glass Centre. It will support us to reimagine and adapt to safely deliver glassmaking demonstrations and participatory experiences, such as bauble

blowing.

" It will also help us to explore new income generation opportunities, in particular in-venue contactless donations and an online shop selling glassware created in our Hot Glass Studio.

“We will trial new ideas for glassmaking activities with specific audiences. We will develop new family activity kits, adapt our schools’ offer for outreach or digital delivery and trial a digital learning offer for adult courses and workshops.”

In terms of visitor safety, the grant will help pay for new social distancing and hygiene measures, including deep cleaning, plexi-glass screens, hand sanitiser stations and wayfinding signs. It will also help improve the visitor ‘welcome’ at both the Centre’s main and riverside entrances and help pay for PPE for Centre staff.

“We’ll also be able to deliver a marketing campaign that will help return National Glass Centre to a buzzing, popular cultural venue and visitor attraction,” added Keith.

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