Cast successful in obtaining match funding for the Big Give's Arts For Impact 2024 campaign

The Big Give is the UK’s largest online match-funding campaign.

This week, as partof their Arts For Impact 2024 campaign, Cast is asking its audiences – and the wider Doncaster community – to help raise £5k across one week, between 19-26 March, to further develop their work in offering opportunities for young people, those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and their deaf and disabled audiences.

If Cast raises £2,500 The Big Give will match that donation, so they can make double the impact.

From helping with mental health to improving social skills, arts and culture can have a huge, meaningful impact on lives. Arts For Impact aims to support arts and culture charities working to achieve societal impact across the UK.

Though Doncaster is the UK’s largest borough, with a population of approximately 310,000, it is the seventh lowest borough in terms of engagement with the arts.

With 21.7 per cent of Doncaster residents having some form of disability compared to 17.9 per cent nationally, and household incomes 20 per cent below the UK average, too few people in the community have an entry point into the arts.

A spokesman said: “With the extra funding, Cast wants to positively contribute to the positive mental health and wellbeing of their beneficiaries through the work they deliver.

“With the extra funding, Cast could offer more access provision, more frequent talent development sessions, and greater provision for work with the older people in the community.

“As Doncaster’s largest theatre, Cast is a welcome space. Its work enriches lives and inspires the people of Doncaster, contributing to vibrant and

creative communities. In these difficult times, they need support to continue this work and provide a cultural hub for those who need it. The aim is to enrich the creative and cultural lives of the people of Doncaster through high–quality and engaging artistic experiences. Cast creates and presents stories that reflect communities, and strive to be a home for local talent and a resource and support for early career artists.

“Cast wants to provide inspiring and welcoming participatory experiences, fostering creativity and building communities along the way, and to

open their doors to our community and be their introduction to the arts.”

Arts For Impact begins at midday on Tuesday 19 March 2024 and closes midday on 26 March 2024. To find out more or to donate, head to Cast’s Big Give donation page here https://donate.biggive.org/campaign/a056900002SEVJEAA5.

*Having opened in 2013, Cast welcomes over 100,000 audience members every year. It runs a vibrant participation programme, engaging with people of all ages and backgrounds from communities across Doncaster, encouraging them to take part in workshops, events, and productions. It also supports and commissions work with exciting local artists, hosting scratch nights and artist hangouts where both experienced and emerging artists can thrive. Though firmly embedded in the cultural life of Doncaster, Cast is still a young, distinctive, and forward-thinking arts centre

with a well-established reputation, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.