THE Courtyard in Hereford has announced a fundraising campaign to raise £20,000, following the loss of regular Herefordshire Council funding.

I Heart CY, which was unveiled to patrons earlier this month, "focuses on individual stories of the people who benefit from the vital community work that the arts centre does within the venue and across Herefordshire".

A spokesman added: "Four videos have been produced by the charity to highlight why residents love The Courtyard with a focus on different aspects of its community work including creative ageing with older people, outreach work with schools, Youth Theatre and volunteering. These videos will be shown before films in the Studio Theatre and are available to watch on The Courtyard’s YouTube channel."

I Heart CY will be at the centre of fundraising activities for the next year with many activities taking place including a comedy fundraiser with Honorary Patron, Jo Brand.

Melanie Denning, Fundraising Manager, said: “We wanted to be able to tell the story about the amazing community and education arts projects that The Courtyard delivers, day in day out, so we decided to create four ‘faces of’ these different aspects of our work. We really hope they will help our audiences understand why we need donations and motivate them to donate, in order to keep all of this great work going."

Donations to the I Heart CY Appeal can be made in person at the Box Office, by phoning 01432 340555, and online at www.courtyard.org.uk