The idea
The arts matter. We want to create an outdoor entertainment space for our students, staff and community; where people can come together, to learn, be entertained and have fun! Built on a sloping school field, the amphitheatre will feature a stage and oval, tiered, Cotswold stone filled, gabion seats. The field will be sensitively landscaped using local, natural materials.
It will be a magical space for community events, workshops, festivals, lectures and for local artists who desperately need fixed outside spaces. Families/friends can picnic on the grass whilst enjoying events. It will be classroom for arts and crafts, bringing a new dimension to how students learn, perform and engage with outside spaces. We will invite local primary schools to use the space, encouraging a love of the arts and nature from a young age. It will be a space for creative collaboration.
The Amphitheatre, like those built by the Romans, will endure, and be a wonderful asset to our community.
What we'll deliver
- Build an outdoor performance space for student and community use
- Installation of electricals for stage and seating area
- Construct gabion seating, filled with local Cotswold stone
- Build a perimeter Cotswold dry stone wall
Why it's a great idea
It will be a unique, outdoor, healthy space for entertainment and learning, adding a vibrancy to our town and boosting the local economy by attracting more visitors. The mix of arts, creativity and being outdoors will have enormous benefits on mental health and wellbeing. The arts help self-expression, boost confidence and resilience. It will encourage people to connect with nature, take part in activities and share experiences. Our area has poor public transport and few community facilities; it will be a much-needed community space, reducing social isolation and boredom. We will expand the cultural and creative offering in our area through a programme of events appealing to different sections of our community: - from toddlers to the elderly. Volunteers will help landscape and nurture the grounds, improving biodiversity through planting new hedging and sowing rare seeds, creating a magical space, without walls. It will support local artists and bring hope and joy to our community.
Steps to get it done
- Prepare groundworks
- Construct stage area, gabion seating
- Install electricals
- Complete landscaping, dry stone wall and hedging
The Amphitheatre will be built on a sloping field adjacent to the north wall of the Performing Arts Centre that is currently under construction. It is part of our ambitious plan to transform the performing arts facilities, education spaces and community facilities in our area. Nationally, the number of young people studying performing arts is in decline, but we are bucking the trend and value what the arts bring to school life, and communities. The arts have the power to shape and change lives. The amphitheatre will be an exciting space that encourages young people to engage in the arts, and will offer experiences and opportunities many could otherwise only dream of.
