How can you help?
As a charity, we rely on peoples generosity in order to maintain our place as a community hub in our wonderful town.
Please help us raise £11,270 by the middle of October 2024, either by buying one our many fantastic rewards, by donating directly via our Crowdfunder page or by giving us a reward to sell-on. All purchased rewards will be supplied once the Crowdfunding campaign has finished.
Can you help us reach our target and see us carry out improvements to continue our growth for the next 20 years?
Who are we?
Otley Courthouse is a vibrant arts and resource centre founded and run by and for
the people of Otley. Our aim is to be a welcoming community hub where people can experience live events, learn new skills, connect with culture, join as a volunteer or Friend of the Courthouse, meet other people and improve their social connections.
In addition to our main auditorium, we have ten tenanted studios/rooms, a meeting room and a Maker Space that functions on a membership basis and hosts the Wharfedale Men's Shed.
We host a wide variety of events throughout the year, from film screenings, live
music, theatre, comedy and creative workshops. We also host a wide variety of local creatives who run weekly classes and workshops from the centre.
Our café is open 6 days a week, where a friendly volunteer serves teas, coffees and snacks.
We have a handful of staff, but are predominantly run by our amazing team of over 100 volunteers that were awarded the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service in 2019.
Our Challenge
After 20 successful years of operation, our main auditorium is now in need of refurbishment. We have just launched our largest events programme in our history. Whilst the year-on-year growth we are experiencing is great, we have no spare money for refurbishment. As a registered charity, we pride ourselves on offering value for money and we price all our activities in order to maximise inclusion. We have a small number of paid staff and a large base of fantastic volunteers. All of this means that we are running a tight and well-run organisation, but with no room for large scale upgrades. With grant funding becoming increasingly more difficult to achieve, we are turning to Crowdfunder to seek support for much needed investments.
Most of our 70 chairs in the auditorium have been with us since the start and are in need of replacement. We also know that with a new lighting rig and supporting technology, we can expand our events programme even further and therefore continue our growth and increase our community involvement.