VOLUNTEERS face a race against time to raise £10,000 needed for a creative arts centre in Cowley.

Thousands of people have walked through the doors of the Ark T Centre since it first opened in Crowell Road in 1997.

The team at the centre has set out to support more people in the community but has only until the end of the month to raise the funds needed.

Centre fundraiser Henrietta Gill said: “We have looked at options of closing but we are not looking at that at the moment. If we do not raise the money, we would keep going because we would keep the door open for everybody that wanted to come here.

“But we would not be able to work with anything like the number of people we do. We would become much more of a drop-in centre and we would not have the energy to move forward and answer the need we see in our community.

“It’s really about trying to help more people. It’s about supporting all the different things that we do.”

Ms Gill, of Divinity Road, said the centre needs to raise between £110,000 and £120,000 a year to run projects including its PlaySpace scheme, Broom Tree Cafe and youth music project.

She said the centre receives funding from Oxford City Council, Children in Need and charity Youth Music but also relies on donations, fundraising and a 35-strong team of volunteers.

Ms Gill said an anonymous donor has come forward and pledged to give the centre £10,000 if residents help raise an initial £10,000 before its Crowdfunder appeal ends on July 31.

More than £4,000 has already been raised online for the Cowley centre through the appeal, which launched at the start of the month.

The Ark T Centre includes a recording studio which helps young people between 11 and 19 create and record their own songs as part of its youth music project.

Ms Gill said project leaders work with about 80 young people from across the city each year, who are referred from organisations including the Oxfordshire Youth Offending Service.

The 51-year-old said the centre has long waiting lists for young people wanting to join the project.

She added: “It really feels that a lot of young people are under a lot of stress and they display that in lots of different ways. Everything is about performing and results .”

Ms Gill said the centre’s team also works with Cowley families on the PlaySpace project, where parents are unemployed or on zero hour contracts, while the Broom Tree Cafe lets people volunteer while getting back into work.

To donate to the appeal, visit crowdfunder.co.uk/the-ark-t-centres-future.