A performing arts centre in Cambridge is to receive more than £170k for an ambitious new creative learning project.

Cambridge Junction has been awarded a grant of £170,750 from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

This funding will enable the delivery of Take Two, a three-year programme of work with hospital schools, out of school education provision, and the Autism Cabins in Cambridgeshire schools.

Matt Burman, artistic director at the venue in Clifton Way, said: “We are very proud of our brilliant Creative Learning programme at Cambridge Junction.

"Our work with young people is a vital and integral part of what we do and who we are.

"And this work is really important right now in growing confidence and giving space for young people to express hopes and fears, and so helping to improve their mental health and wellbeing."

Working in partnership, Cambridge Junction will develop its year-round programme of activities and opportunities for the young people at the Olive AP Academy, Pilgrim Pathway Schools, the network of Autism Cabins and Red Balloon Learners Centres over the next three years.

Take Two will also be supported by the Limbourne Trust, the Red Hill Trust, and Cambridge Junction is currently fundraising for the last portion of the income needed to realise its ambitions.

"We are incredibly grateful to Paul Hamlyn Foundation for their significant financial support for our new project Take Two," added Matt Burman.

"We’re looking forward to working with some inspiring and fantastically creative young people over the coming years and really excited to be deepening our engagement with a range of educational settings across Cambridge and Cambridgeshire.”

Take Two starts this month with a three-week project with HighRise Theatre and students from Olive AP Academy.

This follows another inspirational project undertaken with HighRise and Olive AP Academy and funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation in 2021.

The resulting film, Cambridge: Underground – More Than Just a Uni, captures the creative and positive value and impact of Cambridge Junction’s work with young people.