A 25-year-old community centre behind a town’s first Pride festival is in danger of closing.

Harmony in Mangravet Avenue, Maidstone will be forced to shut if it cannot raise £10,000 before Christmas.

The art centre aims to improve communication, tolerance and understanding between all groups of people through creative expression.

It supports 80 people a month by hosting dance classes, music producing sessions and “jam nights” for bands too young to perform live in pubs.

Amy, a regular user of the workshops, said: “It brings me joy to find a space where people get me.

“It’s increased my confidence and there is nowhere else quite like this locally.”

The parents of another young person who attends added: “Harmony has truly transformed his life.

“He now feels like he belongs somewhere where adults see past his ADHD, treat him with kindness and actively encourage and help him”.

One of the centre’s most notable achievements saw the launch of Maidstone’s first Pride festival in June.

Manager for the centre, Zoe Sparkle said: “I headed up a team of young people and business professionals that brought that project together.

“There were 33 of us and we worked out of Harmony – we did all of our sessions and prep work there.

“Harmony provided all the safeguarding and administration that was involved in running that event so Pride will definitely be at risk if Harmony is to close.”

The organisation was created in 1999 by John Kingdon who founded it in the back of a pub.

His aim was specifically inclusivity – to give a love of theatre and performance to children and adults with special needs or from underprivileged backgrounds who wouldn’t usually get the chance to appear on stage.

His tireless work saw Harmony eventually move into St Hillary’s Hall where it remains today.

But, as he turned 80 during Covid, and was in poor health, the theatre lover stepped down from his role, and Zoe took the reins shortly after in 2021.

She said: “We faced closure back in 2019 and only just survived with the support of government grants, but this time the money has proven much harder to come by.

“We’ve done the best we can for the past three years with volunteers, equipment donations and small local authority grants, but without some serious funding, we will no longer be able to continue.”

Now Harmony is desperately fundraising to get £60,000 to save the building and the people they assist for at least another year. To donate click here.

Around £20,000 will be needed for rent and utility bills, and £27,000 to cover paying three part-time staff members.

The remaining money will cover weekly running costs such as tea and coffee beverages, soap and toilet roll, and printer paper.

Zoe, who works 50 hours a week at the centre, said: “It’s not practical to run a business and organisation with volunteers.

“People need to be paid for their time and their energy and if we don’t start taking a wage for all the hours of work that we are doing we are going to have to get jobs, in which case there will be nobody to run the charity.

“We are hoping that if we can pull in the money for this year and employ people to take on some of the workload it will give us a greater reach.

“One of the things we are still struggling with at the moment is people don’t know we are there, don’t know what we do and part of the reason is that an awful lot of the work over the last three years I have done myself and there is only so much one person can do.”

But, with the building lease ending next month, if the community centre cannot make its minimal target of raising £10,000 it will have to close its doors by Christmas.

Any of the remaining funds will be used to host a series of events and workshops in the town centre for the young community under the Harmony name.

Zoe said: “We’ve done the best we can for the past three years with volunteers, equipment donations and small local authority grants, however we can no longer carry on without serious funding and investment.

“Please help us, to help our young people build their confidence through our creative activities and community connections – without help, it’ll be the final curtain for Harmony in December 2024.”