acta began way back in 1985 with one dream that still remains true today…To use theatre to tell people’s stories and bring communities together. Ever since, we have worked all over Bristol and the surrounding counties to provide free drama and visual arts workshops to local communities.

Our story

For the first 20 years of acta’s life we hopped around Bristol using different classrooms and even an old barn as our base. We dreamt of having a place to call home, when one magical day we were given, the old YMCA centre in Bedminster, to make our own.  We have been there ever since, but as time has gone on, our work in the local community has rapidly increased and our much loved acta centre simply isn’t big enough for all our work so we began to dream…

Our dream

We dreamt of a bar/café area, a friendly place for our local community to use and enjoy…

We dreamt of an second rehearsal space which would be a place for touring companies to use and our local community to hire…

We dreamt of dressing rooms and backstage space for our participants so they are given the true performance experience they deserve…

We had the space to do this but we simply didn’t have the money, so in September 2013 the folks in the acta offices wrote a bid to the Arts Council applying for £490,000 to help us fulfil this dream. In June 2014 we found out the life-changing news that our bid had been successful; however we would still to raise another £100,000 before any of this could be possible. Ever since, we have been busily writing letters and sending out lots of applications to try and fundraise this money. We have worked as hard as we possibly can and have raised £90,000 but we still desperately need another £10,000 to make sure our extension is complete and equipped to the high standard that our participants deserve. We are hoping that if all work together this crowdfunding will raise us £2000.

At acta we don’t usually ask… but this time we really do need your help! Any donation would be incredible, but if not, sharing this with your friends, families, colleagues, pets or your postman is just as appreciated. In September acta will be celebrating its 30th birthday and we want to start this party with a bang… So let’s work together and help out the acta family reach their goal

P.S All donations and sharing of this video will of course get a free invite to our acta birthday party!