Be Part of our Future
In celebration of our 40th Anniversary, we have launched an appeal to raise £500,000 to enable us to purchase Barbican House and develop our plans for its future.
Creating a thriving hub of arts activity at Barbican House
In celebration of our 40th Anniversary, we launched an appeal to raise:
to enable us to purchase Barbican House and develop our plans for its future. We have now raised £433,000. Thank you to everyone who helped us achieve our goal to ensure we can continue to inspire future generations of young musicians.
“GAM, in its Barbican House base, is rapidly becoming the epicentre of arts education in Gloucestershire.”
Be Part of our Future Appeal: success!
Thank you so much to everyone who donated to our fundraising appeal to make Barbican House our permanent home. Gloucester City Council has now confirmed that we can buy the freehold or long-term lease of the building. Owning Barbican House will mean that we can carry out the adaptations necessary to maximise the use of the space, enabling more people to use the building in different ways. Our future plans for the building include:
- Increasing accessibility - a flat or ramped entrance to the front and a lift to the upper floors.
- A new entrance to create an orientation space/reception area to welcome visitors.
- To better utilise the space at the heart of the building (currently a redundant courtyard) by creating an atrium to make a community space available for visitors to enjoy a drink, snack and socialise).
- Increase the capabilities of the current rehearsal space through re-configuring the room to ensure better acoustics and create opportunities for performances to occur within the building.
- Further work will include the introduction of a recital room for small ensemble rehearsals and performances.
- We will increase our visibility outside the building with improved signage and lighting and internal signage.
- We will assess our environmental impact and seek to improve this as part of the scheme. Our plans will ensure that future changes contribute to our overall aim of being more sustainable.
Organisational development costs were met through a generous legacy and support from the Architectural Heritage Fund. Our successful Crowdfunding Appeal secured an additional £35,000 towards the project and was matched by a further grant from the Architectural Heritage Fund.
We are immensely grateful for further grants, the support of trusts and foundations and the generosity of individual donors.
Thank you to everyone who shares our passion for music making of the highest quality for helping us to secure our home.
“The passion, dedication and commitment of all the staff at GAM is inspiring. They have created a community that brings together individuals and families from all around the county, providing countless opportunities for them to develop, not just their musical ability, but friendships, confidence and courage. It has the feel of a big, happy family into which all are welcomed and allowed to flourish.”
