LINDSAY BROOKS is to leave Bridport Arts Centre in September after three years as Director.
Ms Brooks said she was proud of her record and now felt it was time to move on.
“We’re in a healthier state financially, we’re artistically more vibrant and we have started a film festival,” she said.
Indeed, when we spoke she was in the course of writing a funding application to South West Screen for the next From Page to Screen festival next year. From Page to Screen is the UK’s only festival celebrating the adaptation of books into films.
Lindsay Brooks, centre in red, in a publicity shot taken for the film festival From Page to Screen by Pete Millson.
She went on: “The first stage of the centre’s refurbishment also begins this summer. I’m not going before that! I can’t wait to see it. It will be great.”
Ms Brooks said she intended to stay in the Bridport area and work as a freelance.
Other changes at Bridport Arts Centre (BAC) include the impending arrival of a new temporary Marketing Manager, an arts management graduate from Bournemouth University called Eleanor Mottram.
Numerous initiatives are also under way to strengthen and develop BAC’s relationships with schools and young people. This is a priority for the Centre’s core funders, including Arts Council England South West, West Dorset District Council and Bridport Town Council.
BAC is one of only two organisations in West Dorset funded by the Arts Council.
Support is important as competition for audiences in Bridport has increased, with the rise of venues such as The Electric Palace, just down the road in South Street, and Sladers’ Yard in West Bay.
Hence also the importance of BAC’s refurbishment plan, which is (overall) to improve the theatre with new seating, heating, lighting rig and sound system, repave the forecourt, create a new bar / café area, provide a lift to the first floor gallery, improve gallery lighting, and create a dedicated education space in the current café at the rear of the building.
“Onwards and upwards!” said Ms Brooks.
