Helmsley Arts Centre

the arts for everyone in Ryedale

You can help us right away by buying or selling tickets for our raffle.

Available at the Arts Centre: telephone 01439 771700

or email us.

We've got some really good prizes, donated by local businesses. So far :

See the two new prizes added to the list below!!!
          
Dinner,Bed and Breakfast for one night at the the Black Swan in Helmsley
A Gillies Jones voucher worth £150 for a piece of  art glassware from their new collection donated by Kate Jones
A two night mid-week break for two in one of Laskill Grange's self-catering cottages
A £100 voucher from Calverts Carpets
A luxury hamper from Hunters of Helmsley worth £80
Sunday lunch for two at Lastingham Grange
Sunday Lunch for two at the Moors Inn, Appleton-le-Moors
A case of wine from Grant Douglas of The Duke of Wellington Inn, Danby
An original work of art from a selection donated by our exhibitors
A £20 voucher from Brown's of Helmsley
5  x £20 Helmsley Arts Centre gift  vouchers

Plus 2 new prizes!!

A season ticket to Duncombe Park and a guided tour of Duncombe Park gardens

A gliding session with the Yorkshire Gliding Club at Sutton Bank

Apart from the generous donations the people and businesses above have made for our raffle others have been as generous in sponsoring  specific events or the Centre's work in general. 

A big 'thank you' then to our sponsors (so far)  for 2010 :

Clap Trap Productions donated their share of the box office takings for their March 6 performance of "Wreckers" to the Arts Centre £545
Rollits, the law firm, gave £500 towards the Michael Mansfield event on May 27
The Helmsley Free Masons' Lodge No.7075 gave £500 in support of the Youth Theatre's production of "Won't Be Long"
Two Friends (they prefer to remain anonymous) gave £500 towards the Arts Centre's work in general
Another Friend gave us £250 towards the Min-Jin Kym and Ian Brown concert
Bisca of Helmsley gave £250 towards the Folk Weekend in Septembe
A.S. Green & Co gave £100 to the Arts Centre

This is a good start in our quest to keep the Arts Centre alive and well - and growing - but we do need more help yet. Especially regular help. Running an Arts Centre like ours costs a lot of money, especially  when providing, as we do, such a wide range of events and activities. And some of the most valuable things we do cost us more than they earn. For example, most of our work with young people.

A lot of people (even some who regularly come to our shows) don't realise we are a registered charity. We employ two  people nearly full-time, our Administrator and our Theatre Manager, and a number of others on an occasional basis (eg. our cinema projectionists) or by contracting work out to others. But a great deal of the work is done by up to 100 volunteers, some of them working two or three days a week.

Even so, without our grants from Arts Council England and Ryedale District Council we wouldn't be able to stay open at all. So we are very grateful for their help. But that doesn't bring in enough income to compensate for all the expenses involved.

So we need help. There are a number of ways you can help us. 

Become a Friend  of Helmsley Arts Centre for £15 a year
Join us and enjoy:

•  concessionary prices
•  priority booking at the beginning of each new programme (now twice a year)
•  the chance to exhibit in the Friends' Art Exhibitions
•  a regular newsletter

The full annual subscription is £15 per person per annum or couples can have joint membership for £25. All subscriptions expire on 31 December each year.

We are hoping that our Friends will further support us by organising social events and fund-raising events.

For further information contact Judy Plummer on 01751 432230 or email.  

Sponsor a Seat for £150  
When the seats were first installed in the theatre we called for sponsors and many people responded. Their prize, apart from the satisfaction of helping us grow, was a brass nameplate on a seat of their choice. 

There are still some seats awaiting their sponsors. Could you be one of them?

Buy from our shop 
We now have an Arts Centre shop. Just click the Shop advertisement in the right hand column and you enter our Amazon Astore. It is geared towards offering items associated by the Centre's activities but admits you to the full range available on Amazon. The thing is, if you buy something from Amazon by going through our shop we get a percentage of the price you pay, at no extra cost to yourself. So please help us by buying from Amazon through our site. Could be very useful for this Christmas.
 
Sponsor an event for £50 or more
If you would like to be an event sponsor then let us know before we publish the next brochure and we'll let you know what we've planned. Then you can choose your event. We can then acknowledge you as a sponsor in our description of the event. And, of course, on our website.

Sponsor an activity 

This is particularly important to us, because some activities we support cost us more than they earn. And others we are seeking to establish and get under way.You may want to be associated with a particular  activity.

At the top of our list of priorities is our support for young people.

Members of 1812 Youth Theatre

For example,

The 1812 Youth Theatre (over 60 members) (see more)

Arts Award Scheme (see more)

Helmsley Ballet School (over 80 members)(see more)

Workshops, theatre trips and shows for young people , for example a five day workshop with Pilot Theatre

Please note that the young people involved do pay subscriptions towards their activities but, especially given the distances many of them have to travel, we don't want to charge more than they can afford. 

Donations  
Any size of donation will be welcome, of course. It could go towards any of the above but it could go as easily towards the £6,000 we are paying for upgrading the lighting and sound systems in the theatre and exhibition areas.
 
Remember us in your will 
We have been lucky enough to have received in the past one or two generous legacies, notably the sum left to us by Dorothy Morley that enabled us to attract matching funding from the Arts Council for building the west extension.  So....

If you'd like to help us financially, please contact Karen Gosney, our Administrator.

And remember, every little bit counts.