KENT COLLEGE PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CANTERBURY FESTIVAL
30 Aug 2018
On Friday the 27th of April 2018, local dignitaries joined Dr David Lamper, the Executive Head Master of Kent College, Canterbury for the groundbreaking ceremony of the Great Hall.
Watched by the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Canterbury, the Right Reverend Bishop of Dover, Trevor Willmott led the dedication service while Dr David Lamper cut the sod.
The ceremony marks the start of a year of building on the campus to realise the state-of-the-art 600 seater auditorium. The hall will be used for the whole school to worship and as a versatile and practical space for the college’s highly regarded drama and music departments as well as for being available for use by the local community.
In this vein Dr Lamper announced a new partnership between the school and Canterbury Festival. Kent College will become a key sponsor for the Festival and will host events during the Festival in the Great Hall once it is completed.
Dr David Lamper said “ We are particularly keen to support the rich and diverse programme of events that the Festival brings to the local community and the opportunities it creates for encouraging young talent within the Arts.”
Rosie Turner, Festival Director commented “This is the beginning of a burgeoning relationship with Kent College which will involve us both in arts activity of the highest calibre. There will be performance opportunities for pupils; back-stage access and creative industry training sessions with Festival staff and artists. We are already collaborating on events for the Great Hall’s opening in 2019, when a new musical will be premiered, as the new venue joins the portfolio of buildings the Festival inhabits throughout the city. This October we are delighted that Kent College will both perform in, and sponsor, the Lunchtime Concert series, and we are excited to be collaborating on a highlight of the Kent College Lecture Series – guest speaker to be announced in the Festival programme in early July. We can’t wait to work with the amazing young singers and actors of Kent College. A gorgeous new theatre/concert hall is the icing on the cake!”
The new sponsorship offers a life-line to the Festival, which lost its regular funding from Arts Council and Canterbury City Council earlier this year. But according to Rosie, it’s “Business as Usual” thanks to Kent College – and other business sponsors – stepping up to help bridge the funding gap.
The Great Hall is another step for Kent College in creating a world class campus. the purpose engineered space has been 3 years in the planning and draws on the latest in architectural design having the ability to expand or contract its foyer, reducing the seating capacity for more intimate performances to create different stage arrangements and varied acoustic properties as well as space for exhibitions, galleries or entertaining. The building itself has a low-energy passive labyrinth heating and ventilation system, photo-voltaic cells and will be built to comply with the highest sustainability standards.
Mike Darling, a Director from WWMartin the highly respected local builders who are managing the construction commented “WW Martin is delighted to be involved in this exciting new project for Kent College. The construction of a new building with an auditorium for 600 seats will be a challenging project, but one we very much relish. The finished building will be an excellent facility and one that will bring a lot of pleasure to both the pupils and teachers for some considerable time. We very much look forward to working with Kent College over the coming months.”
We will keep you up to date as the plans progress and look forward to welcoming you to a wide variety of future events and activities in the Great Hall.