Winners of Wellington College Arts Fund announced

Eleven schools across Berkshire and Surrey have been awarded a share of £6000 towards arts and cultural projects that will benefit their pupils and the local community.

The winners include:

•Birch Hill Primary School (Leppington) Project: Take part in a Creative Arts Week

•Evendons Primary School (Wokingham) Project: Purchase of digital cameras

•New Scotland Hill Primary School (Sandhurst) Project: Purchase of an outside PA System

•Oaklands Junior School (Crowthorne) Project: Construction of an outdoor stage in the playground

•Bulmershe School (Wokingham) Project: Purchase of a Samba kit

•Emmbrook School (Wokingham) Project: Purchase of music tech equipment

•Gordons College (Woking) Project: Rental of a video screen for their summer arts festival

•Kings International College (Camberley) Project: Purchase of speakers for the drama studio sound system

•Winston Churchill School (Woking) Project: Instrumental lessons for Year 7 students

This week, as the doors to many much-loved arts and cultural organisations reopen around the nation, Wellington College is excited to announce that they are helping to cultivate the arts in their local community, by awarding over £6000 in grants to schools.

Established in 2018, the Wellington College Arts Fund (WCAF) aims to raise money from ticket sales of College performances. The fund is available for Arts Education projects involving students of school age, and particularly school-based projects.

Over the last few months, Wellington College has live streamed a variety of plays and concerts, and the money raised has now been awarded to a selection of local schools. The grants issued will enable local schools to buy much needed equipment and resources to enable the arts to flourish and give their pupils extended opportunities.

Director of the Arts Wellington College, Simon Williamson said: ‘Cultivating grass-roots arts projects has never been so important. The global pandemic has hit this sector harder than most and to ensure its future we must work together to help the arts thrive at every level, whether this be funding music lessons to those who could normally not afford them, the construction of an outdoor stage or equipment for an arts festival, that the whole community can enjoy. Wellington College is excited to help cultivate creative talent in the local communities.’

The College has received wonderful feedback from its winners:

Claire Laurent, Winston Churchill School, said: ‘Thank you so very much for this fantastic grant. It will make such a huge difference to our students and will give them the chance to learn an orchestral instrument and gain a lifelong love of music.’

Kate Whitmarsh, Bulmershe School, said: ‘This is amazing news and we are so grateful. We look forward to sharing some wonderful photographs and updates in the near future.’

Applications for grants are ongoing. To find out more information on how to apply for a grant for your local arts project visit wellingtoncollege.org.uk/WCAF

In addition to raising money for WCAF through concert ticket sales, Wellington College pupils have raised over £5000 for charities, including Ruth Strauss Foundation, Autistica, Help Musicians UK and the Crowthorne Community