The Hullabaloo, the flagship theatre venue for children and young people in Darlington, has won Best Family Venue 2019 at the Fantastic for Families Awards for its contribution to arts and culture for families during the last year.
Voted for by a panel of expert judges from the creative sector, the Fantastic for Families Awards recognise the outstanding events that took place during 2018 and the exemplary family-friendly organisations and venues that welcomed families.
Winners were announced last night at a ceremony in Liverpool on 11th February 2019. Awards have been given by The Family Arts Campaign, the national initiative funded by Arts Council England to connect families with cultural opportunities.
The Hullabaloo, celebrated it’s one-year anniversary in December last year. The venue presents world-class performances for children, houses free creative play installations and offers a wide range of creative opportunities for families. Since opening the venue has welcomed over 20,000 children and their families to enjoy world class theatre for children and access the free creative play installations on offer.
In feedback the expert judges said; ‘The Hullabaloo has demonstrated excellence across the board with a popular, fully accessible, dedicated venue, strong awareness of diverse needs, and innovative activities. Not only does the venue develop its offer in consultation with local partners and communities but the quality of effort to inform and welcome all kinds of families was particularly impressive.’
Laura Case, Executive Director, at Theatre Hullabaloo says:
“We are delighted to have won Best Family Venue 2019 at the national Fantastic for Families Awards. We knew when we started this journey of creating a venue dedicated to children and their families that it would be special, and to be recognised as the best is great recognition for everyone involved in making it become a reality. The venue design, build and overall offer has children and families at its heart and to see it full of children and their grown-ups everyday is the most important thing of all. Theatre Hullabaloo strongly believes that creativity should be part of everyone’s childhood and the opening of The Hullabaloo has enabled that to become a reality for the thousands of children and families that visit and use the venue. ”
