Sage Gateshead says ‘Thank You’ to all those who have helped it reach its £4 million 10th Birthday Appeal target

The North East music charity has risen to the challenge set by Arts Council England, and by raising £4m secures the extra £2m offered through the Catalyst Endowment Scheme. After a three year campaign that has seen hundreds of donors support Sage Gateshead’s 10th Birthday Appeal, the music charity today announced that it had met Arts Council England’s challenge to raise £4m by the end of July 2015 and thereby gain the full £2m in match funding that was on offer for a new endowment. The resulting £6m new endowment will be invested to provide a permanent annual income that will sit alongside other income streams from ticket sales, public funding, commercial activity and annual fundraising that all combine to support Sage Gateshead’s artistic work in music performance and education. Abigail Pogson, Managing Director of Sage Gateshead, said: ‘This is so important to our future and has been a huge community effort. Many hundreds of our audience members have named seats and made donations, and many people have taken on their own fundraising initiatives such as the 24 Hours of Folk music marathons and the players of Royal Northern Sinfonia with their Grade-One-A-Thon (taking Grade One exams on an instrument they had never played before). And of course we’ve had fantastic support from Sting through his benefit performances of ‘The Last Ship’ earlier this year and a fantastic contribution from our friends at Sage Group, alongside major donations from Dame Margaret Barbour, Sir Peter Vardy, the Stuart Halbert Foundation and Benfield Charitable Trust’. The fundraising campaign was supported by range of notable Patrons including film producer Lord David Puttnam, athlete Jonathan Edwards and architect of Sage Gateshead, Lord Foster. Sir Peter Bazalgette, Chairman of Arts Council England, warmly welcomed the achievement, saying: ‘This is fantastic news – and we would like to join Sage Gateshead in thanking all those who have helped it reach its fundraising target. The level of backing that the campaign has received, and from such a wide range of supporters, is real testament to the significance of Sage Gateshead and a demonstration of the way it is valued by so many people. ‘The ambition behind our Catalyst scheme was to help arts and cultural organisations diversify their income streams and increase their resilience – so we were delighted to hear of the success of the Sage Gateshead Catalyst Endowment.’ Lord Falconer, Chairman of Sage Gateshead, added his thanks: ‘Thank you to the Arts Council for giving us this opportunity to create a major source of sustainable income. And thank you to all those who have made it happen. It is simply brilliant to know that the community around Sage Gateshead – the businesses, philanthropists, our audience and our artists - want to help us thrive. Our aim is for Sage Gateshead to play an ever-increasing role in the cultural life of the communities of the North East and this endowment will really help us to do that’. Councillor Mick Henry, Leader of Gateshead Council, was delighted, saying: ‘This is great news. We’re lucky in this borough to have such strong cultural organisations, which are a huge asset to Gateshead. Ten years after it opened, Sage Gateshead has a real place in the heart of our community. The team there work with people from across our region, of all ages and backgrounds – from mums and babies to many of our elder citizens – all enjoying the many benefits that music can bring. The success of this Appeal will really help that continue.’