Support Us / Donate
Unusually for a pub, The Farmer’s Arms is now a non-profit enterprise, owned and run by Grizedale Arts, a registered charity. We’re perhaps best known locally for our artists’ residence Lawson Park, and for the sculpture trail that launched the career of sculptor Andy Goldsworthy in the 1980’s in Grizedale Forest. Internationally, we have produced influential contemporary art projects in Japan, Korea, Brazil, the USA and Ireland, but our main focus nowadays is on making creativity an everyday thing that enriches all of our lives. So we make situations where creative people can do this, and where they can guide others to find and use their own creativity. We see the pub as a perfect place to make this happen.
We cannot do all this without your support. Our core staff costs are funded mainly by Arts Council England, to whom we apply and report on a triennial basis. Everything else we do has to either pay for itself or be fundraised for, and so we are reliant on the generosity of individuals, other charities and funders. A creaky old listed pub like The Farmer’s Arms is incredibly expensive to run – over £100k per year in maintenance and utilities alone.
The fundraising drive we did during the Covid19 pandemic to buy the pub was successful enough to raise over 300k mainly in loan stock investment with a few donors. We drew down the rest of the money to buy the pub from our own resources. Then thanks to the hands-on support of dozens of local volunteers we were able to re-open many areas of The Farmer’s Arms within the first few months of our ownership. We have been so lucky to have found so many individuals and organisations who share our vision for a new future for this much-loved historic institution.
There is still a lot to do, and we continue to fundraise. You can support us by making an online donation below. We use PayPal, but please note you don’t need a PayPal account to donate. If you’d prefer to make a bank transfer, get in touch to arrange that.
If you would like to volunteer in any of the areas and activities the pub has to offer, please reach out. You’d be very welcome.
