New Place receives £50,000 grant boost
A £50,000 grant has been awarded to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust to support its re-presentation of Shakespeare’s New Place.
The money, which has come from the Wolfson Foundation, will enable urgent conservation work to be undertaken at Nash’s House, the neighbouring building to New Place.
It will secure the future of the Grade I listed Tudor town house as the home of a new permanent exhibition where visitors can discover the story of the world famous playwright.
In July, Shakespeare’s New Place, where Shakespeare lived for the last 19 years of his life, will enter a new chapter as the jewel in the crown of Britain’s literary and cultural heritage.
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust is transforming the gardens where the Bards’s house once stood to create a contemporary gateway to Shakespeare.
A major new exhibition in the restored and extended Nash’s House next door will complete the project to unlock the hidden heritage of the unique site.
Helen Prince, Head of Development at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust said: “We are extremely grateful to the Wolfson Foundation for this grant. It is enabling us to bring this historic building back from the brink of closure to showcase a dynamic exhibition which will shed new light on the story of Shakespeare and his family home.”
Paul Ramsbottom, Chief Executive of the Wolfson Foundation, added: “This year we commemorate the anniversary of the death of the country’s greatest literary figure, whose extraordinary legacy continues to influence us today.
“We are delighted to support the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust’s plans to breathe new life into the historic location of the Bard’s family home. The project will conserve a significant piece of our cultural heritage and create exciting new exhibitions to inspire visitors by Shakespeare’s life and work. The Wolfson Foundation commits over £8 million a year to arts and heritage projects of national significance – and this ambitious project is an outstanding example.”
Nash’s House was once home to Shakespeare’s granddaughter Elizabeth and her husband Thomas Nash. It has been artfully extended to provide modern facilities and make the new exhibition centre and the whole site, fully accessible for the first time.
Once re-opened Shakespeare’s New Place will be a blend of the historic and the contemporary, offering visitors a complete contrast to anything they will find at the four other Shakespeare family homes in Stratford.
Breathing new life into Shakespeare’s New Place is a £6m capital project, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Historic England and public donations.
More information on how to become part of the Shakespeare’s New Place legacy can be found at www.shakespeare.org.uk.
Shakespeare’s New Place is the biggest and most enduring project anywhere in the world to mark 400 years of Shakespeare’s legacy. It will be a heritage landmark where visitors will be able to walk in Shakespeare’s footsteps and connect with the playwright in the prime of his life for generations to come.
