Update on The Vault Arts Centre
11 Sep 20
by Nathon Jones
The Vault Arts Centre, Newton Stewart
Following the announcement by the First Minister yesterday, we have decided to delay any further 'soft' opening nights at The Vault Arts Centre until it is absolutely safe for us to do so, and for you to enjoy. We hope to be open again this year, but that will obviously depend on developments.
The compulsory wearing of face masks and social distancing measures, combined with not being able to have any indoor music, live or background, really does make it close to impossible to run at any kind of profit so, until restrictions are lifted otherwise, we have no alternative but to close the venue for the time being.
The strain this has put on us is hard to put into words - a live music venue is nothing without live music - and we are now at a stage where it may not be possible for us to continue further, after years of incredibly hard work simply trying to get the venue launched.
We really appreciate the support we've received from those who attended events at The Vault prior to the Covid-19 crisis, and from those who have attended our very brief, tentative, re-opening nights since.
We hope that music, arts and culture will survive but without the venues to encourage, support, develop, promote and showcase the outstanding creativity and talent that exists in our region, our fear is that they will only suffer further.
If we cannot open by Spring 2021 we simply won't be able to re-open as our on-going costs and the work it takes to run the venue will far outweigh, they already far outweigh, our income and there is only so long we can keep that going before an incredibly difficult decision will be before us.
Let's hope it doesn't come to that.
The Vault Arts Centre