A NEW £1.2-million community arts centre is due to open in Par on Saturday, May 24.

The Creation Works (Hwel An Gwrians) will open its doors for the first time as part of the PAR-Teee, the fourth annual free family festival for Par Bay.

The team behind the centre on the edge of Par Track’s field say they cannot wait to welcome the public in.

The Creation Works will aim to connect children and young people with performance makers from across Cornwall and beyond, offering routes into the county’s creative sector, thus supporting and retaining Cornwall’s artists.

The centre’s co-artistic director Miranda Henderson grew up in St Austell, leaving Cornwall in the 1990s because of a lack of opportunities. Having returned with her performing company in 2017, Miranda hopes the Creation Works will mean future generations feel supported in the county.

She said: “I love working here in my home of Cornwall. With the Creation Works here, we’ll be able to ensure young people don’t have to leave to find opportunities.”

In 2021, Miranda and her colleagues founded the PAR-teee. The fourth edition - or PARt 4 of the PAR-teee – will see the Creation Works opened with outdoor performance and other activities from noon to 4pm.

The Creation Works will be run as a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) registered with the Charity Commission.

The CIO builds on 25 years of Miranda Henderson and Alister O’Loughlin’s Prodigal Theatre and Urban Playground Team.

Back in 2018, the project received National Lottery funding through Arts Council England for a feasibility study which heard from more than 100 artists, individuals and community organisations.

The Creation Works has been mainly funded with £1,048,000 from the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Good Growth Programme, which is managed by Cornwall Council and funded by the government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund.