27/09/2025
This is a sad time for the Arts in Derry and the North West. This building was a home for our youth theatre for 12 years. The staff made my students feel welcome, safe, and a part of the EE family every week. The kids came straight from school each week and made some life long friends. We are all heart broken 💔 at the disgusting news and loss of funding from the Arts Council. FAYT was a family were every child had a platform to express and explore the arts in many forms. EE and the beautiful space will always hold a special place in our hearts. 🥰
Public Statement
It has been a while since our last update and we have been putting this off as long as possible in case there would be any late developments.
It is with great regret and very heavy hearts that Echo Echo Studios will be closing on Tuesday 30th September.
This is a catastrophic loss for the arts in the northwest which will impact widely throughout the island and across Europe.
We know that most of you will be as devastated as we are.
Echo Echo Dance Theatre Company will lose its wonderful purpose-refurbished home building, our three full-time staff will lose their jobs, and the company’s ensemble artists and associate artists will lose a principal source of earnings and the space where much of their work took place.
The city will lose beautiful spaces for a multitude of artistic activities from rehearsals, performances, concerts, exhibitions and classes for all ages and abilities. Many people have told us and written that they have had some of the most impactful moments of their lives taking part in projects, watching performances or making work in this place.
Since we last updated you about the company’s funding appeal being rejected in July, we have been working diligently behind the scenes to find a way to save the company and building. Echo Echo has submitted a detailed complaint about the circumstances around the company’s sudden funding cut to the NI Public Services Ombudsman. This complaint has been accepted into the system however the process can take another 6 months or more to be completed.
The company has met with politicians, civil servants and regularly with local council officers to find a way to Save Echo Echo Studios but ultimately it has not been possible. This is despite unanimous cross-party political support from MPs, MLAs and Councillors, including some who really engaged with us in depth throughout the summer. We thank them all for their time and attention.
We want to thank all of our audiences, friends and colleagues, from near and far, for the incredible support that you have given to us in recent months – especially people who donated so generously to the crowdfunder and who wrote letters of support. We have been genuinely humbled by the stories of the impact of Echo Echo’s work on so many.
The crowdfunder donations totalled £18,576 and meant that the company could keep going long enough to submit the formal complaint, pay all its debts, and ensure that we have done everything possible to save the building, and finally to exit in an orderly manner.
We would like to thank our landlords at Waterloo House for their support and understanding, and we offer special thanks to our colleagues at In Your Space Circus and Studio2 who have been wonderful.
We also offer our sincere thanks to all of the company’s funders and supporters over the years.
And finally, thank you to all of the dedicated Echo Echo team — directors, staff, ensemble artists, associate artists, and others — who have continued to work under the most difficult circumstances.
Echo Echo Dance Theatre Company will continue to exist in a much smaller form and we look forward to dancing with you again sometime soon.
