Red Dreams in cash boost
Dawn and Ian Mc Manus pictured with band Don Broco who officially opened the new Red Dreams premises.
A FOUNDER of a charity which nurtures young people with a passion for the arts has thanked council bosses after they were awarded a £4,000 cash injection.
Hartlepool-based Red Dreams was recently closed for four months while they relocated to bigger premises within Whitby Street South which left bosses short on income to pay salaries.
As a result they applied for £4,012.28 of emergency funding from Hartlepool Borough Council’s community pool in order to tide them over.
Bosses say they are grateful for the support as they feared staff could have been laid off and services reduced.
Red Dreams can now accommodate twice as many talented youngsters, aged 11 to 24, at the new base which opened this month.
The new unit boasts everything creative young people need to express their talents whether it is in music, film-making or directing.
Red Dreams was created in 2007 by parents Ian and Dawn McManus following the tragic death of their son Kyle from a brain tumour at just 16.
He had a great love of the arts, and they wanted to support other young people with potential.
The new site can cater for 200 people.
Dawn said: “We were shut from the middle of October last year to the end of February which meant we weren’t getting any subs in or other income yet still had the same overheads.
“We were therefore very grateful to receive the support of the council because the financial side was getting a little hairy.
“The move has gone really well and we have more than 100 young people signed up, which includes 15 bands and 30 singers, from Hartlepool, Stockton, Middlesbrough and Peterlee.”
Mayor Stuart Drummond said he was “more than happy” to agree the retrospective funding at a meeting of his regeneration and neighbourhoods portfolio.
The funding has been used to cover two salaries, a technical manager and administration officer, for an 18-week period plus insurance and marketing costs..
The new unit is three times the size of their old base and has two rehearsal rooms, three vocal rooms, two recording suites and media and computer suites.
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