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We have some sad news to share with you, but please keep reading to discover the wonderful silver lining to this cloud and the many positive creative projects and exhibitions our group members are involved in. It is with a heavy heart that we share with you that Arts Together is closing in the autumn. Smaller charities such as ours have been facing financial difficulties for some time. A national crisis in charity funding has combined with increasing need and spiralling costs. We have had to face some difficult decisions. Our priority has always been to find a way to keep supporting our group members. We are delighted to announce that the Arts Together groups will be continuing under new names and in new ways from September onwards, thanks to the support and generosity of two larger local charities, as well as donations from local people and organisations. Our groups in Devizes, Marlborough and Pewsey will be taken on by Age UK Wiltshire, with additional support from Home Instead Andover and East Wiltshire. They will become known as ‘Art & Friendship’. Our Trowbridge and Bradford on Avon groups will merge to create a new Trowbridge group that will be under the care of Alzheimer’s Support Wiltshire, which will also run the Melksham group. These two groups will be known as ‘Community Arts’. The groups will continue to meet in the same venues, with the same wonderful volunteer teams and creative sessions led by artists who have regularly worked with us at Arts Together. Group members and volunteers are currently meeting with representatives of each charity to discuss the plans, and we look forward to the Arts Together community spirit and ethos continuing.
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