PLANS to transform an iconic town building into a poetry hub have received a lottery boost.

Ledbury Poetry has been given £98,640 from the National Lottery Heritage Resilience Fund which will enable it to take the first steps towards major capital redevelopment at the Barrett Browning Institute (BBI) one of the town’s most familiar buildings.

Peter Arscott, trustee of Ledbury Poetry said: “The Resilience Fund is managed by the National Lottery to support organisations to ‘get their ducks in a row’ before putting in a bigger capital funding application, which is what Ledbury Poetry intends to do at the next stage.

 

“In our case, we need to learn how to manage a heritage building, as well as organise formal staff training, review and extend our current feasibility reports, stress test income sources, seek legal and governance advice, carry out audience and strategy development and an accessibility audit.  The grant will therefore be spent on a project manager, on professional fees, training, research, volunteer expenses, branding for the Poetry House and Poetry Town, including signage, and more.”

 

The funding will support the work of a Ledbury Poetry House manager in ensuring the regular opening of Ledbury Poetry House at the BBI, a year-round programme of events and increased volunteer engagement to deliver these activities.

The building is owned by Ledbury Places, which is collaborating in the project.

Mr Arscott said: “Through this project, which we hope will be the pre-cursor for a bid for restoration works to the NLHF and Historic England, we aim first, to move forward as an organisation and build our resilience.

“Ledbury Poetry’s ability to conserve and share the BBI’s historic environment will be enhanced. Our re-imagining and redevelopment of the BBI as Ledbury Poetry House will contribute to place-making and the recognition of Ledbury Poetry Town”.

The building commemorates poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning who had lived in the town and was arguably Ledbury’s most celebrated resident

Mr Arscott added: “The funding will enable Ledbury Poetry to develop its organisational capacity, including managing and caring for a national heritage asset and to subsequently run a major capital redevelopment.

“This will be the first phase of the development of the building to offer meaningful work with community groups and the sustained success of Ledbury Poetry Festival which takes place in July. The ambition of reaching out to local, national and international audiences, is a key reason why NLHF have agreed to fund the vision for the BBI as Ledbury Poetry House.

“Volunteers are an essential part of the project, and in our application to National Heritage, 784 hours of volunteer time was used as matched funding or “in-kind” support.

 

“Ledbury Poetry’s later bid to National Lottery for capital funding will, if successful, purchase the building for the organisation, and bring the building back to full use after extensive refurbishment, with open public access to the ground floor, a dedicated and flexible work area on the first floor, a “quiet” workspace on the second, along with a refurbished flat, a digital workspace in the loft, and storage space in the cellars.”

Ledbury Poetry is an arts-based charity. It creates live and online programmes throughout the year culminating in Ledbury Poetry Festival each July.

Now in its 28th year, it is considered the largest and most international celebration of poetry and spoken word in Britain making Ledbury the home of poetry in the UK.

Ledbury Poetry Festival will take place this year from June 28 to July 7.

Ledbury Poetry House, The Barrett Browning Institute in Ledbury is Ledbury Poetry’s new home and is a hive of activity welcoming visitors to workshops and events live in Ledbury and online throughout the year.

All of the volunteers, staff and trustees, are very pleased with this lottery boost because it will lead to the refurbishment of the Elizabeth Barrett Browning Institute building and its return to full and sustainable use as a facility that benefits Ledbury and Herefordshire. It will also enhance the streetscape.

More year-round public activity in the building will also benefit the local economy through increased footfall to neighbouring businesses such as cafes, pubs restaurants and hotels. The benefits to Ledbury also include the proposed use of the space by other community organisations on a flexible basis, and in particular by Festival-related projects that involve young people, an important strand of the festival’s year-round work for more than 27 years.

Ledbury Poetry is already recognised as the pre-eminent poetry festival in the United Kingdom and has a growing international reputation through its work with and connections to literature organisations in Europe and the USA. It has come a long way since the first festival held in 1997.

Having a permanent home, a Poetry House, will enable them to significantly extend their reach and impact.

They want to achieve this through increased year-round provision and the innovative use of digital technology that the redevelopment of the building will make possible - the grant will help make all this possible.

Visit ledburypoetry.org.uk For more information about the work of Ledbury Poetry or to get involved with support and volunteering, look online www.ledburypoetry.org.uk