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Help create the arts centre the city of Wolverhampton deserves: A Warm, Dry, Visible Wolverhampton Arts Centre, with equal access for all
Wolverhampton Arts Centre needs your help to achieve urgent capital works to the arts centre’s Victorian buildings on Newhampton Road to secure the long-term future of the site and transform it into a warmer, more accessible and better equipped arts centre for the next generation
The Raise The Roof project includes replacing the failing roof and sash windows, making the Theatre and Gallery Hall blocks weather-tight and significantly improving their environmental performance.
The project will also enable Wolverhampton Arts Centre to reopen its historic main entrance onto Newhampton Road, with step-free access, giving the centre a more visible and welcoming public front door for the first time in more than two decades.
“Raise The Roof has always been about more than fixing a building. It is about protecting a much-loved cultural home, improving access, and creating a centre that is warmer, more welcoming and better equipped to serve artists, audiences and communities for decades to come.
Wolverhampton Arts Centre has been based on the historic site since 2000 and today welcomes more than 50,000 people a year to gigs, theatre, classes, workshops and exhibitions. It is also home to more than 30 creative and community organisations and businesses, making it one of the city’s most important cultural and creative hubs.
The works come at a crucial moment for the centre. While Wolverhampton Arts Centre has continued to grow its programme and community role, the buildings themselves have deteriorated over time. Water ingress, failing windows, outdated facilities and the legacy of a poorly configured entrance have all added pressure to a site that has seen no major capital investment since 2000.
Earlier this year, the centre secured a long-term lease for the site from the City of Wolverhampton Council — a vital step in unlocking major capital investment. That followed £1.5 million of council-backed support through the Towns Fund for essential enabling works. Together, these milestones have helped pave the way for this latest award and for the next phase of Raise The Roof.
“This funding will allow us to tackle some of the most urgent issues and move forward with confidence. It means we can make the building warm, dry and more accessible, and finally reopen the Newhampton Road entrance as a proper front door to the arts centre. For us, that shows that this place has a future, and that Raise The Roof is making that future possible.”
Work onsite is planned to begin in 2027 and be completed in summer 2028.
Raise The Roof will continue to support the wider redevelopment of Wolverhampton Arts Centre, helping to build on this momentum and secure the centre’s long-term future as an open, welcoming and visible home for culture in the city.
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 29th June 2026 at 3:32pm