Ipswich arts group gets £300k to turn church into music venue

Fraulein was one of the acts to play at the church as a music venue during Sound City Ipswich in 2021

An arts group has secured £300,000 grant funding to turn an unused church venue into a permanent music venue.

Last month plans were revealed to turn St Stephen's in Ipswich town centre into a 225-capacity venue.

The church will be used as a community café during the day.

Joe Bailey, from Sounds East Community Interest Company which will run the venue, said it was going to be a "real game changer for bands and audiences from Ipswich and further afield".

Mr Bailey also works for Out Loud Music, which runs the South Street Studios and its 90-capacity Smokehouse venue in the town, and he said the church was successfully used as a music venue during their two-day Sound City Ipswich event in October.

"We look forward to opening fully early next year and to our series of pop-up events before the summer including our new Brighten The Corners festival, over the Welcome Back Weekend on the 11 and 12 of March."

The church, opposite the Buttermarket shopping centre, had been the town's tourist information centre until 2020

There was a lengthy queue to catch TV Priest at St Stephen's Church during the Sound City Ipswich

The funding has come from the Suffolk Inclusive Growth Investment Fund and Ipswich Borough Council, reported the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Out Loud has a 20-year lease on the church and planned improvements include new toilets, fire exit, sound-proofing, PA system, staging, additional electric outputs, cafe/bar and moving the font.

Previously the church was used as the town's Tourist Information Centre before it closed in 2020 as part of the council's emergency budget plans.

A spokesperson from Suffolk Growth said: "We are pleased to be backing a sector that has been hit hard throughout the pandemic to bounce back, respond creatively to the town centre challenges and boost the day and night-time economy."

Ipswich Borough Council's Labour leader David Ellesmere said it was "an example of the innovative thinking needed to improve Ipswich by bringing new uses for existing buildings which will in turn attract more people into the town centre".

Out Loud also put on a series of Independent Venue Week gigs in February by renting The Baths in Ipswich, which included well-attended shows by The Orielles, Andy Bell Space Station, Girls Of The Internet and Field Music.