A CORONAVIRUS fund grant has helped a community hub for musicians and artists to continue providing an inspirational place to create.

Calne in Tune has been awarded £4,600 to help pay the running costs for its drop-in centre in Church Street, Calne, for the next six months after it lost out on revenue during the first lockdown. The grant, from the Wiltshire Community Foundation’s Coronavirus Response and Recovery Fund, will help it stay in operation and be ready to re-open when the latest lockdown ends.

The hub shares the premises with Calne Central, a community drop-in that acts as an information point for charities and groups in the town. The group originally set up in the library but had to move when it went into lockdown in March.

Trustee Terry Couchman said: “We’ve put on art exhibitions in the town hall and used pubs and social clubs as venues for music. But we decided this year to fund our own music and arts community centre in the old furniture store in Church Street.

“The owner, the developer Stibbard, gave us a very reasonable rent for six months to prove ourselves and the grant will help us continue here for at least another six months. It gives us the ability to stay in the building into the new year and get past this crisis.”

The hub has musical instruments, computers with recording and sound engineering software as well as art materials so that anyone can come in and play, draw or paint. Calne in Tune has been running art groups for a range of people with differing abilities, including those suffering from mental health issues, but they have yet to begin again.

“People will come and work on art projects on their own but the groups aren’t back in yet. Music is different because we can have one person playing the piano on one side of the room and someone strumming away on a guitar in the other,” said Mr Couchman.

“We were inspired by Pound Arts in Corsham and the music groups in Bradford on Avon, those little creative sparks where people can go, and we wanted to recreate that.”

The centre is open from 10am to 6pm six days a week and also in the evenings, when groups of young people meet to play and record music. “We work with youngsters right the way through to people in residential homes. The real idea is to get people to test out their skills and talents in art or music to see how they can develop them to whatever level.

“Music and art is core to people’s expression of themselves when they are lost for words.”

The therapy and sense of fulfilment provided by being able to play an instrument or work on a piece of art is evident in the changes seen in regular visitors. “We had one young man who had learning disability and schizophrenia but he liked doing art and some of it, although it was very primitive, was so powerful that it shocked people how he was able to get the imagery to express an emotion, and he had no other outlet to do that,” said Mr Couchman.

“We had a guy in his 40s who we showed how to play three chords; now he writes his own music and performs. It is amazing that people don’t realise what they are capable of and that’s our core value.”

The grant will pay for running costs and help keep the centre Covid secure. “We would normally raise money through gigs and art exhibitions, but we’ve just not been able to do that to pay our own way,” said Mr Couchman. “This grant gives us a real chance.”

The Wiltshire Community Foundation’s coronavirus fund has raised £1.2 million and distributed £925,000 through more than 200 grants to groups across the county. Joint chief executive Fiona Oliver said: “Having somewhere in the community where people can come together and be creative or just find companionship and a friendly face is hugely important. Calne in Tune do a wonderful job of providing a spark of creativity and we are delighted we can support it.”

To find out more about Calne in Tune go to calnintune.com or search for it on Facebook. To donate to the Wiltshire and Swindon Coronavirus Response Fund or to find out how to apply for a grant, go to wiltshirecf.org.uk.