The Lowry, a prominent arts centre and registered charity based in Salford, has announced a significant fundraising achievement with its annual Festive Appeal, which has generated £50,600. This substantial sum is dedicated to financing the centre's creative participation programmes, specifically designed to benefit young people from across Salford and the wider Greater Manchester region.
Supporting Young People Facing Adversity
As a charity, The Lowry's core mission is to utilise creativity and the arts as powerful tools to transform lives. The Festive Appeal plays a crucial role in raising vital funds to sustain these creative initiatives and support the young participants. Many of these individuals encounter considerable challenges in their daily lives, including being out of school, living in care, facing risks of homelessness, acting as carers for family members, or growing up in poverty.
Creating Safe and Inspiring Spaces
The donations collected enable The Lowry to establish safe, nurturing, and inspiring environments where young people can engage in a diverse array of activities. These range from visual arts sessions that promote wellbeing and self-expression to performance and drama opportunities that help build confidence, develop personal voices, and foster lasting friendships.
Furthermore, The Lowry actively works to remove practical barriers to participation. This includes providing essential support such as transport, food, and other necessities, ensuring that every young person can take part fully and comfortably in the programmes. Annually, more than 22,000 individuals participate in The Lowry's creative schemes.
Impactful Testimonials from Participants
The profound impact of these programmes is vividly illustrated through the words of the young people themselves. One participant shared, "Before I started coming to The Lowry, I didn't want to get out of the house. Now, I enjoy being out and about and I want to do things."
Another remarked on increased self-confidence, stating, "Coming to The Lowry reminds me of what I can do. I'm much more confident and less judgemental of myself. I don't doubt myself as much; my self-esteem has changed so much."
Additional feedback highlighted social growth: "By coming to The Lowry, I feel like my confidence slowly boosts during each lesson. I also think I've become a little bit more sociable; everyone accepts you for who you are." One more testimonial emphasised personal development: "Before I came to The Lowry, I was so quiet, I wouldn't talk to people. My confidence has grown so much that now I can talk to anybody. I always needed someone to support me, but now I can stand on my own two feet and be my own person."
Community Generosity Fuels Success
The fundraising success was driven by the generous support of audiences attending The Lowry's festive shows, which included productions like The Red Shoes, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Unfortunate, and The Enormous Crocodile. Thousands of donations were made via bucket collections after performances, with every penny contributing to the total.
Contributions also flowed in through digital channels and from the sale of special festive drinks at The Lowry Bar and Kitchen. At the heart of the campaign were The Lowry's VIPs, a dedicated team of group volunteers who led the bucket collections after every show. Their enthusiasm, commitment, and warmth were instrumental to the appeal's achievement.
Notable Contributions and Acknowledgements
One volunteer, Laurence Josephson, who hosts a popular local quiz, went above and beyond by generously donating his quiz fee to the appeal. The Lowry also extends a heartfelt thank-you to the participants of Uswim's annual New Year's Day charity swim, who donated £1,000 to this year's campaign.
Jenny Riding, The Lowry's Director of Learning and Engagement, expressed her gratitude, saying, "We're so grateful to everyone who donated to this year's Lowry Festive Appeal. As a charity, we couldn't deliver the work we do in our communities without their generosity and support."
She added, "A special thanks to the cast and crew from The Red Shoes, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Unfortunate, and The Enormous Crocodile who have each shared the vital work we do with audiences, and our wonderful volunteers who have collected donations after every single one of our festive performances – thank you!"
