Yesterday there was a fire at Battersea Arts Centre that destroyed the Grand Hall and Lower Hall.The organisation and the front half of the building live to fight another day. We start now.

As I cycled towards the building last night I thought about the millions of people who have shared and enjoyed the Grand Hall and Lower Hall over the last 120 years – as a public space – for everyone. These public spaces are reducing in number – which makes it all the more heartbreaking.

Huge thanks are owed to all the emergency services, who literally saved the front half of the building, to staff, artists and volunteers at Battersea Arts Centre, and to everyone who has  shown their overwhelming support online over the last 24 hours. The passion for the building and the organisation is extraordinary. Thank you all for being part of this. We really need you at this time.

Today we start the next chapter. We want to get the shows back on and rebuild the building brick by brick. Huge thanks to the National Funding Scheme who set up a donate page on their site to raise funds. This is incredibly important – At the moment we have no offices, no Grand Hall theatre, and we have to re-establish a new financial model for the next 12 months. So your support – at whatever level – is so valuable. Thank you so much to everyone who has already donated and who has supported BAC through social media.

As you can imagine, everything is unfolding, hour by hour, and we will keep you updated on the front page of www.bac.org.uk when we have news or follow us on Twitter @battersea_arts @davidjubb

Organisations and individuals can help right now by:
– Donate on the web
– Or get in touch with me if you would like to offer support in another way [email protected]