Pictured: Julia Rausing
May 2026: Cirencester-based charity New Brewery Arts has today announced a major new grant of £90,000 from The Julia Rausing Trust. The Julia Rausing Trust is a charity established to honour the memory of Julia Rausing and is a celebration of philanthropy. One of the Trust’s aims is to support arts and heritage causes. This grant arrives at a pivotal moment for New Brewery Arts, which continues to stabilise and rebuild in 2026 while operating in challenging times.
This generous funding will support New Brewery Arts for the next three years and allow it to continue its work in connecting people with craft, celebrating the role of hand made and creativity in all our lives, and keeping the door open to its community.
New Brewery Arts was founded in 1978 by the community and housed in the disused brewery building quarter of Cirencester. Its mission is to champion craft – making it, learning it and supporting the people who do it. Its courses, workshops, makers’ studios, 100% UK-made craft shop and café, all contribute to a vibrant creative hub at the heart of Cirencester.
Beth Alden, CEO, New Brewery Arts said: “We are enormously grateful to The Julia Rausing Trust for this transformative support, which really helps keep craft and creativity alive. 2025 was a very challenging time for New Brewery Arts. Like many charities, we faced costs going through the roof and funding going through the floor. Our Trustees and staff worked with resilience, dedication and care to secure the organisation in 2026 and beyond, and we have been buoyed by extraordinary generosity from local people, visitors, and supporters — including a significant anonymous donation that arrived at a critical time. New Brewery Arts can now look ahead and invest in our future.
The Julia Rausing Trust’s support ensures New Brewery Arts can move ahead with its 50th anniversary celebrations in 2028, continue championing craft, and keep its doors open to the community. But the charity is clear: this funding alone does not secure its long-term future.
We’re here to bring joy, creativity and connection to community, but we can’t do it alone. We need the support of grants such as this, new Patrons and Supporters. This place only exists if it’s used, because once places like this are gone, they don’t come back. We continue to call on everybody to ‘Use us or lose us’ and make a difference. So, book the course. Buy handmade. Bring a friend.”
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