DANCE STUDIO FACES FINANCIAL PROBLEMS AFTER SECOND LOCKDOWN
UNIT 12 in Winchester, Hampshire has been in financial crisis during the second lockdown after being refused the government grant.
For the past ten years, this facility has been providing dance classes for young people of all abilities however, after going into another lockdown the dance studios have been left empty.
This has caused them great fear that when the dance classes can return in the release of the lockdown that they won’t be able to recover financially.
The pandemic has meant that the facility has not had its usual source of income being provided and the hundreds of people that they help have been unaware of whether they would have dance studios to come back to.
Mitch Allen, Dance couch for Intergate Dance said:
“It has taken a toll on their mental health because a lot of them come here for a break away from school and life at home so it's quite a bit of an outburst for them.”
The facility has stayed open in the second lockdown, so it can provide emergency food packages for over 40 families in need. But this has meant that they haven’t been provided the government grant, causing the facility to lose 7,000 pounds worth of income.
Jamie Robinson, Manager of Unit 12 said:
“They only provide the grant for businesses that are shut. We have stayed open because we have physiotherapy, counseling and food projects going”
He added:
“We are really trying to challenge the decision-making on that and hopefully with enough support we can try and get a grant.”
In the meantime, the facility has been fundraising to get them through to Christmas such as Jamie’s 24 hour sponsored row which raised over 3000 with donations still being given.
He said
“I had to do something drastic and a 24 hour row with no training I thought was drastic enough”.
Their only hope is when the dance classes return after the second lockdown, they can get the financial support that they need, and things can return to normal.
