Latest News | 18 August 2020
Re-awakening and reflection
As Bondholder Déda moves towards welcoming guests back into its building, Director Steve Slater reveals what's been going on behind the scenes.
In line with the start of the university academic year, Déda will operate as a creation and meeting space for fellow Bondholder the University of Derby students and for Hubbub Theatre Company.
Its class programme will start slowly with online streaming of a selection of classes, while Déda assesses the feasibility of live class participation. For now, the theatre will be used as a residency space for artists.
The team at Déda is investigating the options around operating the CUBE Café Bar again, initially in support of students and staff and hopefully soon after, for the general public. It is also exploring options around providing food to various companies, schools and community groups as a click and collect service.
Steve Slater says: “We wanted to let you know that Déda has not been still while in lockdown, we have been busy making plans and dreaming dreams – reviewing and reassessing what we do and how we do it to make us even better, more diverse, more accessible and more incredible for when we return.
“The arts industry was one of the first to respond to the lockdown, taking its social and moral obligations to heart, working in close proximity to make work that the public enjoy in environments which unite us. We’d gone from having the power to respond to the world, to decode existence and to interpret society to being able to do little and stand back to allow the key workers to perform their many miracles, standing before us on the front line.
“Now we are looking ahead and relishing the opportunity for the arts to step up and begin to help. The challenge facing the industry is immense; how to return to a world of making and creating when the rules dictate that to stay safe, we must stay apart? Each arts institution, organisation and artist must find a way back, a way to re-connect, a way to play a part and give expression.”
Following government guidelines restricting mass gatherings, Derby Feste has re-emerged with the #DerbyWELL campaign, which will include an arts trail around the city, launching on 26 September. The programme, initiated by Déda and other Derby arts organisations, will support artists back into work, encourage people back into the city centre in a safe and socially distanced way and reunite the city’s communities with plenty of opportunities to get involved.
For more information, and to find out how you can take part, visit www.derbyfeste.com
