When the Friends of St Peter’s and The Churches Conservation Trust realised that St Peter’s Church in Sudbury needed structural and cosmetic restoration, they applied for funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to help with the significant regeneration of the building. However, they were disappointed to learn that their application was unsuccessful and looked for local support to continue their plans for the church.
Mackman started working with the Friends of St Peter’s and The Churches Conservation Trust in 2017 and took them through a full service programme focused on building a brand strategy to help them support their restoration plans. Through collaborative workshops, we developed a brief to create a brand identity toolkit and website for St Peter’s to support their regeneration and growth. As a result, St Peter’s subsequent application to the Fund successfully secured a £1.67 million grant, contributing to a regeneration project totalling £2.5 million across four years.
“Without doubt, their work helped to secure the £1.67 million National Lottery Heritage Fund. The team at Mackman are a tremendous support to the project, enabling us to have a high-quality website.”
Amanda Gerry, The Churches Conservation Trust
From St Peters to Sudbury Arts Centre
Following the successful funding application, the team at St Peter’s began an extensive redevelopment project to turn the church into a community venue for Sudbury. As the project neared completion, Mackman continued it’s support of the project by leading a six-month consultation process to launch a rebrand and marketing strategy for the venue space.
The Challenge
With the venue restoration due to finish in Autumn 2023, it was time for the team to start to consider a new name, a new brand and how they would market the opportunities and events this space would now be able to offer the local community.
The Programme
This programme involved strategic insight to consider the corporate objectives for the venue, a renaming process, the development of a new brand and the launch of a new purpose built venue website and marketing plan.
This development programme saw the introduction of the venue’s new name, Sudbury Arts Centre, with vital input from representatives at the Churches Conservation Trust, the Friends of St Peter’s and The Bridge Project, guided by critical feedback from broader community groups.
“We are proud of our partnership with the project, working closely with The Churches Conservation Trust and The Bridge Project. Sudbury Arts Centre will deliver far-reaching social benefits for Sudbury and the surrounding communities.”
Paul Mackman, Co-Founder and Managing Director of The Mackman Group
PR Campaign and Identity launch
On Monday, 12 June 2023, alongside key stakeholders from Sudbury Arts Centre and The Bridge Project, we launched the new name and an introductory web page for the arts centre. A press campaign promoted the revival of the landmark more widely to local news sources and started to raise awareness of the space to the local community. Alli Burke, Operations Manager at The Bridge Project and the key person responsible for delivering the exciting programme of events and workshops appeared on BBC Suffolk Radio to speak to Sarah Lilley about the unveiling.
Over the coming weeks, as the new brand continues to be unwrapped in full on Sudbury Arts Centre’s socials, we will be speaking to key stakeholders involved in the rebranding project to understand the drivers behind the decisions that led to this new identity. Please follow updates via the Sudbury Arts Centre instagram page and campaign hashtag:#jointheconversationsudbury