PR Date: Tuesday, 29 June 2021 - 1:45pm
North Herts District Council (NHDC) has awarded over £2000 to support the Hitchin Festival following a virtual meeting of its Hitchin Area Committee on 15 June*.
The annual arts festival has been running for the last ten years, bringing together community groups, businesses and individuals. The grant will go towards creating a week-long series of events, running from Saturday 24 July to Saturday 31 July, at The Dell Open Air Theatre, next to the Queen Mother Theatre, Woodside. The funding will be used towards the hire of staging and technical equipment and to ensure the space remains safe and secure, with fencing and security present throughout the duration.
The event has been publicised through a crowdfunding campaign set up to help with running costs. Tickets are on sale through the festivals online box office as well as in person from the Hitchin Information Centre in Churchyard, Hitchin.
Glyn Doggett, Chair of Hitchin Festival said: “We’ve been working with Hitchin Bid and many others on this project, so on behalf of all of us, we’d like to say a huge thank you to NHDC for this grant which will make a huge difference to the whole event. We are ae looking to create something long-term for the benefit of the local community and this grant will help us realise this and achieve our long-term goals.”
Cllr Judi Billing, NHDC’s Executive Member for Community Engagement, said: “In the 70th year since the creation of the Dell, and with outdoor venues seeing a resurgence because of Covid-19, there has never been a better time to see this beloved part of Hitchin restored and used again in the way it was intended.
“This year’s event will be a fantastic opportunity to work with the community to bring alive a long held dream, and hopefully start to create a vision for a longer-term plan that would see the Dell used as an outdoor theatre every summer.”
If you represent an independent and not-for-profit organisation working for the benefit of local communities in North Hertfordshire and you think your organisation could benefit from a community grant, go to our website here for more information: www.north-herts.gov.uk/home/community/grants/community-grants
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