After reopening on 10 December 2020, The Plough Arts Centre will now close again from 1 Jan 2021. Plough Director Richard Wolfenden-Brown has just announced that:
‘After careful consideration of the deteriorating situation nationally and locally with regard to Covid 19, and after taking advice from local health professionals, the trustees of the Plough Arts Centre have taken the decision to close the venue from 1 Jan – 31 March 2021. This decision has been taken with a heavy heart but we are mindful of our responsibility to keep customers, volunteers and staff safe. In the current circumstances it simply feels like the right thing to do.’
Film screenings taking place up to 31 Dec will go ahead though customers are welcome to request a refund if they do not wish to attend. Planned live events from Jan to March will be cancelled, with customers offered a refund or invited to donate the cost of the tickets to the charity. Online activities will continue and the programme of workshops run by Sophie Hatch, The Plough’s Youth Theatre & Outreach Director, will be able to carry on as usual, though other face-to-face arts workshops and exhibitions at The Plough will be cancelled or may move online. Events and workshops at ThePlough@StAnne’s in Barnstaple will cease with immediate effect.
Plough Chairman Jerry Bix added ‘After a roller coaster year we had hoped to be gradually rebuilding the arts programme after reopening earlier this month, but events have conspired against us to the point where the only sensible course of action is to put safety first and to look forward to a time when we can reopen with renewed confidence after the rollout of the vaccine. I would like to thank all our audiences, participants, supporters, volunteers, staff and fellow trustees for their resilience, support and determination to keep The Plough alive, during what has been the most difficult year in the organisation’s history.’