Skip to Main Content ⏎.
Your web browser is out of date. Update your browser for more security, speed and the best experience on this site.

Historic St George’s benefits from creative grant

Nu Civilisation Orchestra
Image credit: St George's

St George’s Bristol is a live music venue in the heart of Bristol. The Grade II* building is complemented by a contemporary extension with flexible event spaces, café/bar and conference facilities. St George's are an arts charity (registered 1986) and generate income through hospitality, hire and fundraising to underwrite music, spoken word and education projects that take place onsite and across Bristol. Each year they present 300+ local and inter/national musicians, presenting classical, world, jazz, contemporary music to 100,000+ people. They have a staff team of 16.

St George's applied for a creative sector grant for businesses and was awarded £9,750.

Sarah Lazare, Development Manager at St George's applied for a Creative Business grant to support ‘What’s Going On’ – a brand new, exciting artist-led project which will support recovery post-Covid by growing artistic partnerships and audience engagement. The Creative Business grant has been channelled towards employing diverse local creative freelancers to deliver the project and to commission new creative work.

Sarah said, "The team at St George’s Bristol is immensely grateful to be a recipient of the Creative Business grant."

After a long period of closure and suspended activity due to Covid-19, this targeted support from the West of England Combined Authority has provided a welcome and much-needed boost to the organisation’s recovery plans. With the Creative Business grant, St George's have been enabled to programme and deliver a new, artist-led project that will extend the business' reach to new communities, develop new audiences and support the region's vibrant local creative freelancer community.

Looking ahead, the team want to:

  • Grow our cultural, commercial and hospitality activity to support sustainable income streams;
  • Expand our reach to new audiences and re-engage visitors post-Covid;
  • Develop grassroots initiatives and take our work out to communities across the city to encourage more people to engage with culture; an essential part of individual, community and societal recovery;
  • Support local freelance creatives and thereby help to strengthen economic recovery through more contractual opportunities.

“Our project ‘What’s Going on’ could not take place without the early support shown from the Creative Business grant programme. We would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere thanks to the West of England Combined Authority and the Creative Business grant team for their belief in our project and the incredible support that have shown us to date.” Sarah concluded.

“We highly recommend the Combined Authority programme to other businesses. The Creative Business grant team have been a pleasure to work with – they are supportive, knowledgeable, responsive and want to help.”

Sarah Lazare, Development Manager

Want more information?

To find out more about the support we offer for the creative sector, please visit our West of England Growth Hub website - Growth Hub website