Arts hub extends opening hours after positive memberships response

Derby QUAD has announced it has extended its opening hours thanks to a positive response to a new membership scheme.

Led by feedback from customer surveys, the Market Place mixed arts venue will increase opening hours on Thursday and Friday to put on matinee film screenings and give more opportunity to explore gallery shows.

With these changes now implemented, QUAD is open to the public from 12noon until late from Thursday to Sunday each week.

Although Thursday and Friday afternoon openings are still being monitored, QUAD has reported that the extended hours have been successful and will remain part of the core hours moving forwards.

Similarly, QUAD customers were keen for a membership scheme to return, which has now also been implemented.

QUAD Memberships are £45 (with half of this going directly to QUAD as a charitable donation) and include various perks including discounted tickets, gallery previews and waived transaction fee.

QUAD has reported that the uptake in the new membership scheme has been “incredibly successful”.

The venue said it would like to thank Derby City Council, Arts Council England & BFI for their funding and overall support to allow these developments to be made.

In an open letter to customers, QUAD chief executive Eleanor Thornley said: “These are exciting steps into our future and are the result of a tremendous amount of work undertaken by the staff and board over the last 10 months.

“It has been a hugely challenging time, and I cannot stress enough how proud I am of the entire team at QUAD, past and present, who have been incredible in their efforts to make QUAD the special place we know it to be.

“To all our loyal and passionate supporters and customers, I realise that some of the necessary changes have been challenging, and I appreciate your patience, support and feedback across this time.

“We are as passionate as ever about our charitable aims on this journey; all of our income goes back straight into sustaining QUAD to deliver them.”

Mark Gregory, QUAD’s chair of trustees, said: “We would like to thank our stakeholders; Derby City Council, Arts Council England & BFI for their support while we navigated through the past 10 months.

“We still have work to do, but thanks to the tireless work of staff we feel there is now a pathway to a sustainable future for QUAD.

“While we continue our journey on this pathway, the ask remains the same; please buy a ticket, visit a gallery show, sign up to be a member, donate, grab a coffee in our lounge or simply tell a friend about QUAD.

“It’s an exciting time for culture in Derby and QUAD deserves to be a part of that.”