Fire Severely Damages Battersea Arts Centre; Funding Page Established to Benefit Theatre

At approximately 4:20pm local time on 13 March 2015 Battersea Arts Centre was evacuated due to a fire which appears to have started in the roof of the building's Grand Hall, the cause of which is not yet known. All staff and visitors were evacuated to safety.

On their website, Battersea Arts Centre wrote that they are, "enormously grateful to the London Fire Brigade and other emergency services on the scene for the extraordinary work done in incredibly difficult circumstances, preventing the fire from spreading to the front half of the building."

All performances on Friday evening have been cancelled along with the performance due to take place in the Grand Hall on Saturday. It is not yet known whether other spaces will be back up and running this weekend but updates will be posted to the website and on social media.

David Jubb, Artistic Director and CEO: "We are devastated by the speed and scale of this fire. The most important thing of course is that everyone got out of the building quickly and safely. Our heartfelt thanks go out to the brilliant fire brigade who limited the damage caused to the beautiful old town hall. We are all extremely grateful for all the offers of help and the support made on Twitter and elsewhere. It is heartening for everyone involved with the organisation in this extremely challenging moment."

He also wrote, "Today we start the next chapter. We want to get the shows back on and rebuild the building brick by brick. Huge thanks to the National Funding Scheme who set up a donate page on their site to raise funds. This is incredibly important - At the moment we have no offices, no Grand Hall theatre, and we have to re-establish a new financial model for the next 12 months. So your support - at whatever level - is so valuable. Thank you so much to everyone who has already donated and who has supported BAC through social media."

Interested patrons may donate at: On the web, or get in touch with Jubb to offer support in another way davidj@bac.org.uk

For more information, visit: www.bac.org.uk, or Twitter @battersea_arts @davidjubb.

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