Opening a venue in Wrexham – our learning so far and a call to action

We are so delighted to have finally opened a multi-art form venue, The Lab, at Eagle’s Meadows Shopping Centre, Wrexham. But it’s come at a cost. Times are hard for most people working in the arts. But for a group of neuro-divergent people, there are so many barriers to doing something ambitious and visionary. We will succeed – but here are some of the things we’re up against, and some of the things that have helped. 

We hope this acts as a call to action for for funders, commissioners of services and sponsors to work with us to ensure that equity, diversity and inclusion extends to neurodivergent people too.

About The Lab

The Lab is a space for the whole community, offering a growing programme of activities and spaces for hire, including Breakin’ and Rapping workshops, Hip Hop jams, drama bootcamps, latin and belly dance sessions, open mics and more. There’s a café and bar area (with burgers and hotdogs from Notorious Eatz), a Hip Hop fashion and books shop and social, performance and creative spaces.

The Lab is an initiative of creative collective Avant Cymru in partnership with local creatives and businesses including Larynx Entertainment.

What has helped

A committed collective of trauma-informed, neurodivergent creatives, many who are volunteering their time and supporting each other through the highs and lows that setting up a venue brings. At the moment, one of our Directors is volunteering her time as creative producer, fundraiser, bar staff and cleaner!

The diversity of people we’re working with and the richness of ideas and strengths that brings - we’re part of, or working with, people from a range of marginalized communities – economically/socially deprived, neurodivergent, disabled, global majority, LGBTQ+.

Eagles Meadow Shopping Centre management being willing to offer us a space rent-free for an extended period of time.

SPF funding from Wrexham Borough Council.

Theatres Capital Refurbishment grant from Arts Council Wales.

Access Support for funding applications from Arts Council Wales – a worker to help us express our vision, our projects, and our needs.

Disability support, we are having to advocate every step of the way for Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia support. The amount of forms needed to be filled in are a huge barrier, how can these be made easier and is access to work accessible for freelancers?

Reduced business costs; with licenses, insurance, steps to jump through the costs to achieve opening are in the £1000's, how can these be managed better?

Investing in training that gives transferable skills for freelancers – including trauma-informed working, First Aid, Safeguarding, Food and Hygiene, SIA Door Staff, Barista Training. The above has been achieved but how to pay for ongoing CPD.

One funder who has listened to us and asked us to advise them on how to make their application processes more accessible for neurodivergent people. We would like more conversations like this.

What has hindered

Lack of funds – no surprise there! But as a tiny organisation, reliant on project-by-project funding, with very little funding available for core costs like project management, marketing and fundraising, this has stretched us beyond what we imagined. We estimate that so far, it’s cost £51,000 – and that’s without electricity costs. It’s a tiny amount for many organisations, but significant for us.

Unanticipated building costs – we were so pleased to be given a space, a disused retail unit to help realise our dream of having a venue. But it needed extensive work – cleaning, repairing damage, getting kitchens up and running, and improving the look, feel and comfort of the space for visitors. the unanticipated costs of refurbishing a venue are a constant worry and affect everything else. 

Electricity – again, no surprise with the high cost of energy and there was no way we could estimate the costs of keeping the lights on, until we started delivering here.

Living below the poverty line – we haven’t had the time and resource to raise the money for the true costs of this ambitious project. So most of the time spent to make this happen is volunteered – and this is having an impact on us physically, and mentally. 

Our working class and marginalised backgrounds – we see these as a strength we bring to our work. But we can’t ignore the fact that not having strong financial foundations means most of us are struggling to make ends meet while we build this ambitious project.

Staff costs – even though many of us are volunteering, we don’t expect this of others. We pay people fair wages – for Graffiti art, bar and café staffing, workshops. But to maintain the venue we need it to be open regularly and that needs bar/café staff, cleaners, event coordinators, workshop leaders and teachers, a technician, project manager/creative producer. 

Lack of Access Support from most funders - most funders won’t pay for Access Support to help with funding applications. So because we find it hard to articulate our experiences, insights and needs in the way funders want us to (we’ve had help to write this blog), most funding is completely out of reach for us.

Funders’ application processes – the amount of reading and interpreting of guidelines and questions is overwhelming and unnecessary. If guidelines, processes and forms were created FOR neurodivergent people, everyone would benefit.

The future

We are already seeing our hard work pay off. We’re attracting like-minded creatives and socially-engaged practitioners, voluntary sector partners, and slowly building an audience and supporters, and a programme. We are listening to people’s hopes and dreams, and as is core to our vision, mission and values, we’re  working towards a future where we and our communities create cultural opportunities with hope, pride and ambition. Where we remember the past, discuss the present and create the future, together.  And where our experiences and imaginations inspire people locally, nationally and internationally.