Our busiest year EVER!

The news is out…

2024 was our busiest year EVER!

It’s true! We’ve crunched the numbers and we are fairly confident that 2024 was the busiest year in the Gregson’s history.

Why is this important?

Our mission is for people to be in the driving seat of their community events and cultural experiences. This is what makes our programming so unique – it is almost entirely community led. This ensures that what happens here is directly affected by community need and interest, encouraging more people to come together and be creative.

Thanks to the first major UK research to quantify the impact of arts, we know that taking part in arts and cultural hobbies in our communities can massively improve both mental and physical wellbeing, including “alleviating pain, frailty, depression and dependence on medication” – isn’t that incredible?

Thanks to our community being busy busy busy, there have been more events than ever before for people to come together – making our community happier and healthier. Cheers to that!

So, we know you’re dying to know – what are the final numbers???

More events than ever!

We held a whopping 3,331 events – that’s 142% of the 2,351 we had last year!

That means on average the Gregson held 9 events a day – with everything from knitting clubs to Tai Chi to performances and gigs.

We have been thrilled to collaborate with so many different people and organisations, offering ticket splits, student deals and support to empower people to make things happen in our community.

Want to see what’s new in 2025? Click here!

Nurturing new groups

19 groups were new to the Gregson in 2024. Thanks to funding from LDCVS Health Champions Fund, our ‘Health Support Programme’ offered free hire to new groups with a focus on creative approaches to wellbeing. We are thrilled that this resulted in a number of new regular groups: Contemporary Dance, the Hero’s Guild, Women’s Self Defence, Sound Bath Sundays and Voices in Time.

We also continued our Creative Support Programme, offering 17 new groups discounted room hire. The creative support programme is funded 100% by the Gregson, and is available to any new groups, allowing people to try out their ideas and build a community with a lower financial risk. Want to start a group of your own? Click to find out more.

Volunteer powered

We’re delighted that we’ve now got over 100 volunteers who do all sorts of amazing work here.

We also welcomed in 6 new volunteer-led projects: Brew and Banter, Charity Quiz nights, Craft and Chat, Accessible Open Mic, Expert Hour and our upcoming podcast, Radio Gregson.

Want to find out more about volunteering? Click here!

Gigs galore!

2024 was a year for lovers of great gigs at the Gregson!

We are incredibly humbled to have been voted as #1 venue by the people of Lancaster for Lancaster Music Festival 2024 – what a weekend!

We also had an incredible time as part of Lancaster Jazz Festival, welcoming some of the best jazz musicians from Lancaster and across the country. After a successful stint as our Young Promoter, we were also thrilled that Jack continued to programme incredible gigs here under Baccy J and Folio Productions.

Like gigs? Click to see what’s coming up!