Glenkens Community & Arts Trust
The Glenkens Community & Arts Trust (GCAT) has a decades long track record of economic regeneration through arts and community work in the Glenkens. We were created in 2001 in response to the devastating Foot and Mouth epidemic of 1998 and since then have consistently delivered high-quality arts and community development work for our remote-rural community.
We are a key anchor organisation for the area, with a vision of making the Glenkens an excellent place to live for people of all ages. We do this by:
Interweaving Arts, Community and Heritage to enrich the life of the area.
Delivering our Artistic Vision with passion and creativity.
Supporting many activities core to the quality of life of people and environment of the Glenkens.
Driving economic and social regeneration of the area through leading on delivery of the Glenkens & District Community Action Plan.
In 2007, GCAT opened CatStrand as a purpose-built arts venue that now hosts an innovative and diverse programme of creative arts to audiences from Glenkens and beyond. In 2020, we opened the Smiddy , a multi-use space available for events, activities and hire. We now employ 2 full-time and 19 part-time people (total of 9 Full Time Equivalent posts) in the Glenkens, as well as commissioning many performers and activity deliverers and hosting external events.
