----- Original Message -----
From: TOM PHILLIPS
To: TOM PHILLIPS
Sent: Sunday, July 13, 2008 1:19 AM
Subject: Show of Strength


Despite ongoing support from Arts Council England SW, four-star reviews all round for latest project 'Trade It?' and twenty years of groundbreaking theatre in unlikely spaces, Bristol theatre company Show of Strength is about to lose its crucial core funding from Bristol City Council. Without this funding, SOS will almost certainly have to go into liquidation. It now appears that SOS is the only arts organisation in Bristol to be put in this position by the council. At the same time, it also appears that we will not be told the reason why SOS's funding bid has been turned down until the council's decision is ratified by the council cabinet on 31 July. After that, we will have two weeks - in the middle of August when the company's two members of staff are on long overdue holidays - to appeal. Over the last two decades, Show of Strength has been at the forefront of groundbreaking performances, whether that means opening up Bristol's first pub theatre at the Hen & Chicken, launching the first ever production at the Tobacco Factory or performing new work in community centres, on railway stations or, as in 'Trade It', on the streets of Bristol. SOS is all about creating an infrastructure for new theatre in this city - one of the key aims identified in Theatre Bristol's report about where we go from here. If you feel you can support us, please write to your councillor and/or MP, the mayor of Bristol and Helen Holland. Alternatively, if you don't live in Bristol, write letters of support to me, Tom Phillips, 59 Hamilton Road, Southville, Bristol BS3 1NZ.
Many thanks,
Tom
Vice-chair, Show of Strength theatre company, Bristol.