St George’s Hits Re-Development Appeal Target with the Help of the SMV Charity

St George’s Bristol was designed by Sir Robert Smirke and built in 1823 as a landmark Georgian church. It is now a Grade II* listed building and internationally recognised as one of the country’s leading concert halls, as well as being a registered charity.

Each year St George’s delivers over 300 concerts, talks and cross-cultural events, reaching over 75,000 people on site and 19,000 online. The charity also runs an Education and Outreach Programme to nurture cultural engagement amongst children, young adults and families.

It seeks to educate, excite and inspire, promoting extra-curricular learning, building talent and deepening understanding of music, the arts and Bristol’s cultural heritage. The programme reaches over 5,500 participants, targeting areas of the city where cultural provision is traditionally low.

In 2014, St George’s embarked on a major campaign to radically transform the physical site, audience facilities, artistic capacities and programme for the benefit of audiences across the South West.

The Building a Sound Future campaign (BASF) represents the most ambitious project undertaken at St George’s since its foundation, transforming the Georgian church building into a fully resourced, fully accessible concert hall to rival the world’s finest. The new St George’s will be a creative space for music and ideas and a major cultural asset for Bristol and the wider region.

This monumental venture could only be realised through the support of public and private funders. St George’s approached the Society of Merchant Venturers to provide a grant of £50,000 at a critical stage in the project’s development, to fund core project costs including design, consultancy and construction work.