Northampton arts and music venue The Roadmender has announced it will close after it lost two of its key sources of funding - an Arts Council grant and then, last week, a grant of £58,000 from the local county council. The closure is immediate and all forthcoming gigs and events have been cancelled. Some gigs will move to The Charlotte venue in Leicester, while refunds will be available for others - details at http://www.roadmender.org
In a statement the venue's trustees said: "We are extremely saddened to announce the closure of Roadmender for an interim period. The future of Roadmender was called into question by Northamptonshire County Council's recent decision to withdraw funding. At the time the Northamptonshire County Council were making their decision we advised them that, without their commitment to invest in 2006/07, to make such a decision would jeopardise the future of the Charity. The Arts Council announcement to disinvest from April 2006 meant a withdrawal of funding which accounted for 44% of the venue's entire grant income. This made the Northamptonshire County Council's investment all the more critical. It has been proven to the satisfaction of the Trustees that the Company cannot, by reason of its liabilities, continue its business and that therefore the Company be wound up. BRI Business Recovery and Insolvency have been instructed to deal with the winding up of Roadmender".
They continued: "Roadmender has been approached by potential supporters. Investment from such supporters cannot be secured if their investment is to pay for outstanding debts. Projects for young people cannot be delivered within such a financial environment. The value of the work of Roadmender is recognised as important to the community as evidenced by the 7,000 signatures received in the recent petition. Young people have made it clear that Roadmender is something that they want and value. It is with this in mind that the Trustees' intention is to identify a new vehicle with new partners, which will support Roadmender to continue to provide music and arts opportunities for the youth of Northamptonshire".