Twickenham MP Munira Wilson, visited The Landmark Arts Centre this week in a welcomed gesture of support for the centre's fundraising campaign.

The visit, with Teddington ward councillor, Richard Baker, came ahead of the centre's participation

in support of #LightItInRed, the national event aimed at shining the light on the critical condition of the £110 billion live events industry, and the announcement of the government's rescue package for the arts sector.

Munira Wilson tweeted: "I'm supporting the Save The Landmark Arts Centre campaign and met with

the @LandmarkArts team yesterday ahead of #LightItInRed. Govt arts rescue package is welcome

but it's not clear whether local venues will benefit. I will keep pressing for answers."

Later in Parliament Munira Wilson spoke in the debate and said: "The arts fund announced earlier this week was very welcome, if long overdue and late for many, but it fails to support the highly skilled individuals who make the UK's world-leading industry what it is.

"The freelance cameramen and women, make-up artists, costume makers and sound engineers. We cannot afford to lose these skills and small businesses from our economy, and they need support now.

"Importantly, the arts fund must trickle down to local venues, which are central to our local economies, such as the Landmark Arts Centre, Hampton Hill Theatre and The Exchange in my constituency."

Landmark Chair of Trustees, Martin Nicholds, commented: "The announcement from the Culture

Secretary sounded very positive, but we don't know how the money will be distributed. Our fear is

that the prestigious London venues will get the lion's share.

"We have exactly the same issues as

those venues but on a smaller scale and so far, have received no extra support.

"In a normal year we would have over 500 people performing here in various events and over 600 artists showcasing and selling their work at our fairs. Where will the outlet be for this in the future if local venues like us cease to exist?

"We're grateful to Munira and Richard for raising the profile and for pledging to lobby central

government further to ensure that local venues like ours don't slip through the net.

"We are hugely grateful to the local community who have helped us raise well over £50,000 since we launched our emergency appeal, but we need to double this in order to see us through to 2021 when we hope to reopen and rebuild our events programme."

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