THE Pound Arts Centre in Corsham is set to reopen its auditorium doors with a series of live performance and film throughout October, November and December.

Seven months after its forced closure on March 16 because of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, the centre is looking forward to putting on live performances.

Pound Arts Director Russ Tunney said: “Our doors are already open, but we can only call ourselves an arts centre when we are sharing live performance and events again.

"While we’ve been fighting to keep Pound Arts alive, we’ve been overwhelmed by the generosity of our community whose kindness has enabled us to arrive at this moment.

"We begin with performances from artists that we have been in continued conversation with since March, and that provided our community with digital connections as part of our Blue Sky and Beyond celebrations in June. Artists that we love, and that love Pound Arts.

"Our aim is to re-grow our programme gradually, ensuring that the audience experience is safe and the creative process properly protected, too.

"There will be more to come, and we aim to create a balanced programme of live work taking place at the arts centre, alongside exciting digital content to give those who prefer to stay at home, and those unable to attend due to limited availability, a front seat experience."We have been delighted that thousands of people have engaged with us digitally over lockdown and we are determined to ensure that we continue to provide for those who still can’t come to our lovely building."

Mr Tunney added: "Of course life is not back to normal and we still have a journey to go on. We want to take this journey with our community, artists and audiences. That’s who we are here for.

We aim to celebrate the creativity of all, and the joyful connections it brings.

"The journey might be long before we can get close to the scale of work we were enjoying at the beginning of the year, but it’s exciting, too, giving us the opportunity to rethink our relationship with the community, and to take a leap forward in the style of work we can present and audiences we can welcome."This arts centre must be for everyone in the community sharing and celebrating the creativity of us all. And we are thrilled to be embarking on a new journey towards that goal.”

The programme includes: Saturday, October 24: Climate Challenge by A Line Art; Friday, October 30: The Great Big Story Mix Up by Roustabout; Friday, October 30: John Hegley; and Saturday, October 31 and Sunday, November 1: Kitty Macfarlane.

Pound Arts will be announcing further live performance and events throughout October, November and December very soon.

Look out for the Magic Mayhem Festival returning in November, and lots of festive celebrations throughout the month of December.