By Jenny Cornish, Communications Officer at Craven District Council

SKIPTON Town Hall closes after Christmas this year for a multi-million-pound refurbishment project – but the show must go on, and the Town Hall will be going on tour with lots of events planned around the district.

The Town Hall team will be popping up at village halls and other venues across Craven, bringing audiences a whole range of activities, including theatre performances, concerts, arts and craft workshops and the hugely popular tea dances.

Craven Museum will also be out and about, with a range of roadshow events at libraries, pop-up displays and outreach workshops in schools.

When Skipton Town Hall reopens in May 2020, it will have a brand new museum, thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund, with education space, researcher space, and purpose-built museum stores.

The Concert Hall will have been transformed into a modern and flexible performance venue, restored and redecorated, with a new demountable stage.

Danielle Daglan, Programming & Venue Development Manager at Craven District Council, said: “We’ve had such amazing feedback from audiences since we started delivering a creative programme at the Town Hall; performances, exhibitions and workshops have gone from strength to strength.

“We want to keep that momentum going and use our year of closure for refurbishment as an opportunity to really build partnerships across the district in preparation for the new cultural hub we will become.

“So that means as well as the Museum getting out and about, the performance and events side of what we do will also be going on tour.”

Craven District Council will be working with partners including Skipton Town Hall orchestra-in-residence Skipton Camerata, Quantum Theatre, Hotbuckle Productions, Blackpool Tower organist John Bowdler and many others, to bring a varied and lively programme to Craven communities during the redevelopment.

Craven Museum has already closed its doors and started its programme of outreach activities, taking free workshops to local schools around Craven on the subjects of Homes of the Past, Toys of the Past, Romans in Craven, and Stone Age to Iron Age.

Lizzie Dawson, Community Heritage Curator, said: “The school workshops have proved incredibly popular and we are currently fully booked until March 2019. We also have a number of loan boxes which will be available throughout the project.

“When we reopen we will have a brand new and dedicated education room, where we can conduct workshops at the Museum.”

The Tourist Information Centre will remain open throughout the closure, but the team will be based at 35 Coach Street, alongside the car park and will be open from Monday to Saturday, 9:30am to 4pm, providing information, souvenirs, gifts, cards and dog bags.

During the period of closure, the Hub space in the Town Hall will remain open and will be available for community hire. There will also be access to the front of the building for Wildwoods restaurant and the Skipton Town Council offices.

Join the Skipton Town Hall mailing list at www.cravendc.gov.uk/skipton-town-hall to be the first to find out about events, or pick up a brochure from the Tourist Information Centre. To book school museum workshops, please email museum@cravendc.gov.uk.