The Host House, for Nicky Singer

In autumn 2021 the novelist and playwright Nicky Singer did a spectacular piece of match-making: she introduced Improbable to Bore Place. 

Improbable is a world-renowned theatre company of improvisers, story-tellers and facilitators, looking for a home. Bore Place is a farm, outdoor education and retreat centre, which played a deeply important part in Nicky’s life and work. Thanks to Nicky, Improbable is now working with The Commonwork Trust, which owns and runs Bore Place, to transform a dilapidated oast house and barns on part of the site into a creation centre. We are calling the project, ‘The Gathering’. The centre will provide workshops, rehearsal studios and accommodation where exploration and play can be undertaken on a rare, breathtaking scale. It will allow Improbable to put down roots for the first time, to host artists and companies without homes of their own, to invite international artists for residencies, to reach young people and schools in Kent, to facilitate, to research, to teach and to pass on a rich creative legacy.

The project will start with the conversion of the beautiful old oast house into 'The Host House' - a hospitable space for creative conversation, collaboration and exchange - and then grow from there. We are seeking to raise c.£100,000 by next September for the first phase of this work, including architect and surveyor fees, planning permission and environmental surveys, fundraising research and capacity building, and a programme of activity to support artists onsite long before any work has started. We are seeking other funding for this including from trusts and foundations and Arts Council England. By September 2025 we hope to have raised the full c.£750,000 for building works on The Host House, from individual donors and from major heritage and cultural capital funders. We would be enormously grateful for your support to realise this ambition, in gratitude and celebration for the life of Nicky Singer and her astonishing creative spirit.

All money donated in Nicky’s name will be designated for this purpose only, however at this early stage there are many unknowns ahead. In the event that the Oast House cannot be renovated along these lines we will continue to gather and support artists and nurture creative Spirit, as Nicky did at Bore Place, and as she taught us to do. If you have any questions about our plans please do contact Improbable's Strategic Lead for The Gathering, Rachel Grunwald, on [email protected].