Cliftonville's Cultural Space
ARK's Journey
From Synagogue to cultural space
In late 2020, local residents Lucy Lyons, Francesca Ter-Berg, Kate Gillespie and Jan Ryan ignited a community campaign to save the former Margate Synagogue and alongside celebrating the building’s heritage, re-imagining it as a cultural space that welcomes Cliftonville’s diverse communities.
Thanks to the huge support of well-wishers near and far, we were successful, and in January 2022, Cliftonville Cultural Space, now known as ARK, became a registered charity.
Working with young people
Since the beginning, working with young people has been central to our ethos.
For our second project, Cliftonville Lights, we worked with children and young people to create images that were projected outside our building, since we were not yet able to host events in the building!
Since then, we have delivered projects in six local primary schools, partnered with Jasmin Vardimon Dance, Good Chance Theatre and 1927 on creative workshops with secondary schools, hosted Turner Contemporary sessions at ARK, run holiday and after-school clubs with children from the neighbourhood, and partnered with Open School East, Canterbury Christ Church University, The Margate School of Art, and East Kent College on a wide range of projects.
Welcoming newcomers
At ARK we value all our communities and want ARK to reflect a variety of voices. Working with refugees and asylum seekers who are located in the area is one of our organisation’s priorities, and for the past three years, we have hosted an annual refugee week festival, which although focused on ARK, takes place in venues across Thanet.
We also run regular get-togethers where local residents and asylum seekers and migrants get to know each other and build friendships over supper and shared activities. If you would like to get involved, please contact Laura Owen.
Local families
ARK is an affordable, inclusive space for everyone. We partner with Playground to offer participatory events for under 5s and their adults, alongside music and theatre shows. and of course, our regular Christmas show.
Each year, we commission local artists to create our Christmas show. For the past three years, we have worked with Brigitte Aphrodite and Quiet Boy (aka Crescendorious). Last year and this, they are joined by Liv Morris – more news about this year’s production coming soon!
Volunteer
with ARK
Want to get more involved in what we’re doing? Why not volunteer at ARK!
We are always ready to welcome newcomers to our enthusiastic and active volunteer group. There are so many ways you can help out – on the bar, at events, supporting workshops, maintaining our garden, logging audience numbers…..you name it! Training and support given.
Become an ARK supporter
ARK is a registered charity, based in the heart of Cliftonville. With no core funding, we rely on donations to keep our doors open, maintain our heritage building and support the communities around us – local families, young people, emerging creatives and recent arrivals to our neighbourhood. So please support us to bring positive change to our area - we can’t do this without your help!
