WILTSHIRE Creative's artistic director has said the company is trying to evolve and recover in the post-pandemic landscape. 

The last few years have been "very challenging within the whole cultural sector", says Mr Gareth Machin, and though the public investment is hugely important to Wiltshire Creative, it only represents 30 per cent of its total income – 70 per cent is earned.

Mr Machin says Wiltshire Creative is "one of the largest multi-arm form organisations in the southwest", producing and presenting work from its base in Salisbury, and from its two buildings (Salisbury Arts Centre and Salisbury Playhouse).

The company's work also travels out beyond Salisbury as well. 

Mr Machin, originally from Cheltenham but now living in Salisbury, said: "For a city of Salisbury's size, to have an organisation of this size within the city, and the amount of provision that we are able to offer, that comes from the levels of public investment that we have, from Arts Council England, Salisbury City Council, Wiltshire Council, is really quite amazing actually. 

"Salisbury is a small city but it has this amazing investment in the arts. And I think I suppose what separates us from a lot of other organisations in other cities is that we make work here in Salisbury across different art forms so that we can make work that is bespoke for the city, that connects with the city very specifically, that responds to the spaces that we have, and that we are able to offer a year-round participatory offer for all ages."

He said: "Certainly post-pandemic earning that income has been challenging because audiences have been slow to return, and that is a national trend. So it means that we have had to look hard at the whole organisation.

"What we are trying to do at the moment is recover, but also recognise that we can't just go back to exactly as we were before. We have to continue evolving and adapting, so we are looking at new ways of making work.

That is work such as this summer's upcoming The Tempest. 

That will be a project that brings together professional actors with community participants and will run Churchill Gardens from May 24 to June 4. 

There will also be opportunities for members of the public to get involved with craft-making, backstage opportunities, volunteering, and helping to shape the production. 

The production will help celebrate the history of this part of the city, which was the location of the first poor house in Salisbury.

For more information go to wiltshirecreative.co.uk.