Café Arts is now nearing the end of its 8th year, and is still going strong. This season has seen the variety and quality that is now expected from the project. We kicked off the years programme with a favourite and regular at Café Arts, Rob Halligan, followed by Gershon Ward and friends providing us with an evening of Christmas themed gospel. In February we had a new artist, Sandra Godley, who provided us with an uplifting and encouraging evening of entertainment. Most recently we had Bryn Haworth, his first return visit since the first season, for an evening of the blues. Soon we will have another first for Café Arts with stand-up comedian, Paul Karensa. We look forward to seeing you there.
The Café continues to do a good trade in home made cakes, drinks and snacks. The home made cakes in particular have an extremely good reputation! The bookstall and tradecraft stall also have a lot of custom during the events.
Numbers this year have been slightly lower, averaging around 55 to 60. We still haven’t had a concert without any new visitors. Ticket prices rose by a pound at the beginning of the year to keep up with increasing costs, from £6 to £7 and will remain the same for the next year. Hopefully this will allow anyone who wants to attend to be able to. The event is still in profit over the year.
At the beginning of the year the Café Arts website underwent a big revamp, apart from simplifying the design, one of the biggest changes was the addition of online booking . This has allowed us to sell tickets and collect money in advance. There is a small card processing fee, but the benefits of being able to sell tickets another way out this.
Looking to the future, we have just started planning the next season and so far have Gareth Davies- Jones booked for the Christmas concert as part of his “9 Lessons” tour. If you have any suggestions or requests for other evenings please let us know soon!