This autumn, Kent Music is thrilled to be moving to a brand-new bespoke building in the exciting Creative Enterprise Quarter (CEQ) on Ashford’s Javelin Way.
The new location will provide the leading music education charity with a fantastic space to bring all its staff, expertise and equipment together from across the county. Meanwhile, the location in the Creative Enterprise Quarter offers an amazing opportunity to connect and collaborate with other creative organisations in particular the renowned Jasmin Vardimon Company.
Kent Music’s chief executive Peter Bolton said of the move “This is a great moment for Kent Music. It gives us the opportunity to bring our team and equipment together under one roof for the first time and to engage in the exciting discussions about the future of the arts & culture in Ashford.
We are very excited to be located next to Jasmin Vardimon Company and we look forward to working together on exciting creative collaborations. I would like to thank Kent County Council and Ashford Borough Council for making this possible.”
Since 1948, Kent Music’s headquarters have been in Maidstone.
Peter Bolton said “While we are excited by the opportunities afforded by this move to Ashford, it is a big moment to move our headquarters from Maidstone but our link with the town will continue through services that we run in schools and other setting throughout the district”.
We are so excited for the opportunities our new space will give us to grow, collaborate and provide even more music education for Kent.
What is the Creative Enterprise Quarter?
The CEQ is a newly developed area in Ashford, designed to attract both creative businesses as well as the general market, within the new cultural quarter.
The light industrial units will also seek to support the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises in the post-pandemic world by providing opportunities for business development in the creative sector, as well as income from business rates.
The new facility has been built in partnership with Kent County Council and the scheme is piloting an innovative and unique approach by using the value of the industrial units as an enabling development to provide investment into a new cultural building.
In order to deliver the facility, capital investment has been secured from Arts Council England, the Cultural Recovery Fund’s Capital Kickstart Fund, Ashford Borough Council (ABC) from the Business Rates Retention Pilot (a fund which aims to support housing and commercial growth in the borough) and the South East Local Enterprise Partnership’s Getting Building Fund.
