The Glasshouse

Dame Margaret Barbour hopes that The Foundation’s donation will encourage others to give generously to Sage Gateshead’s Crisis, Recovery and Renaissance public appeal.

Sage Gateshead is delighted to share that The Barbour Foundation has awarded an extraordinary grant of £1m to support the charity’s plans to contribute to the recovery of the North East.

The Barbour Foundation is a Founding Patron of Sage Gateshead and has since remained a champion and generous supporter of the organisation.

Sage Gateshead still faces significant financial challenges as it enters a period of recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. It is however clear on the substantial benefits it can bring to the North East and plans to contribute meaningfully to the region’s healing.

Dame Margaret is a Patron of Sage Gateshead’s 2020-23 Crisis, Recovery and Renaissance campaign which recently launched the second year of its public appeal to raise £1m over the coming year.

Dame Margaret and her fellow Trustees hope that their donation demonstrates to others the value they see in the work Sage Gateshead does across the region and the benefits it brings the local community and economy, and that their special award will encourage others to join them in giving generously to the public appeal to safeguard this cultural hub for the North East.

Dame Margaret Barbour, Chairman of The Barbour Foundation said, “On behalf of The Barbour Foundation, I am delighted to be able to continue my support for the Sage Gateshead during these very challenging times. The Sage Gateshead holds a very special place in the region, offering such a wide variety of music and I hope that our donation will enable audiences across the North East, nationally and internationally to continue to enjoy the wonderful programme of entertainment that they have to offer.”

Abigail Pogson, Managing Director of Sage Gateshead said, “This donation will help enable us to get back to making music, for and with people across the region. We want to place music and creativity at the heart of the North East’s recovery and future and this grant will help us to do that.

“In order to realise our plans in 2021/22 and safeguard our charity under very difficult financial conditions, we’ve had to try and raise a very substantial sum. The government’s Culture Recovery Fund has helped us, and this grant from The Barbour Foundation takes us another big step towards what we need for this year. But we now must turn to our Crisis, Recovery and Renaissance campaign to raise a further £1m.

“We have received wonderful support from over 7,500 people all over the North East and the world over the last year, raising the first £1m of the £3m campaign. I hope existing and new donors will support us through this next stage and to a return to live music in the North East.”

The Barbour Foundation, formerly known as The Barbour Trust, was formed in 1988 by Dame Margaret Barbour. It supports charitable causes, cultural and community projects and women’s groups primarily in the North East.  To date, over £24 million has been donated by the Foundation to support worthwhile causes.

ENDS

For further information or interview requests please contact Susie Gray, susie@thecornershoppr.com 07834 073795

The Barbour Foundation

The Barbour Foundation, (formerly known as The Barbour Trust) was formed in 1988 and supports charitable causes, cultural and community projects and women’s groups primarily in the North East.  This includes:

(a)         The promotion of research into the cause and treatment of illness or disease and the provision of medical equipment.

• The protection and preservation for the benefit of the public in the North East of England such features of cities, towns, villages and the countryside as are of special environmental, historical and architectural interest.
• The relief of persons resident in the North East of England who are in condition of need, hardship or distress as a result of local, national or international disaster, or by reasons of their social and economic circumstances.
• To help improve the employment prospects of young people and to alleviate their problems of homelessness in the North East of England.

To date, the Foundation has made grants of upwards of £24 million mainly to North East charities and towards various cultural projects such as the Sage Gateshead and the Laing Art Gallery.  In 2014, the Barbour Foundation donated £1m to the Future Fund to help build a Children’s Cancer Research Unit at Newcastle University.

Sage Gateshead

• Sage Gateshead is an international music centre for the North East and wider North. Through music, creative learning and artist development, the organisation shows what music can achieve for communities.
• Since opening in 2004, Sage Gateshead has worked side by side with partners and the wider community to help address the complex blend of social and economic challenges the region faces.
• Sage Gateshead continues to be a major employer and has brought investment and tourism into the region, generating c. £500 million contribution to the local economy, a sum six times greater than its combined capital cost.
• Sage Gateshead has brought social, cultural and educational value to over 10 million people and millions more via digital and broadcast activity. The scale of its artistic, learning and artist development activity places Sage Gateshead amongst the UK’s largest cultural organisations, while reaching a substantially more socially and economically diverse audience.
• Pre-lockdown Sage Gateshead attracted 2 million visitors; 5,000 people took part in weekly music classes; 17,854 school children experienced live orchestral music and we worked with a further 2,418 vulnerable young people; more than 2,000 adults a week took part in music making designed to tackle social isolation.
• The North East region is one of the worst affected by Covid-19. The region will be one where the recovery is slow and hard. Arts and culture have a pivotal role to play in regional and nation-wide recovery.
• Covid-19 presents a major financial challenge to Sage Gateshead, the iconic Foster + Partners designed NE landmark. 80% of its income has been affected, and in 2020/21 £10 million in revenue was lost. The organisation has taken swift action to overcome this crisis. 90% of the workforce was placed on furlough, significant cost savings have been sought and found, and it launched a fundraising campaign to raise £3 million to help secure the organisation during the next three years. Further challenges lie ahead; in 2021/22, Sage Gateshead estimates box office and trading income to be less than half of what would be expected in a normal year.
• Sage Gateshead temporarily closed to the public on 17 March 2020, five days ahead of the announcement of the National lockdown. Sage Gateshead recommenced performances in October 2020 with a season of socially distanced concerts featuring Royal Northern Sinfonia and artists across genres, made available by live stream; audiences were able to be present in the hall for two weekends of those performances.
• A new season of online performances – New Beginnings – started in April 2021.
• Sage Gateshead received a grant of £2.8 million from the Culture Recovery Fund to help it through the pandemic and to contribute to the region’s recovery.