centre:mk

2023: A Year of Community Support, Charitable Initiatives, New Store Openings and Events

We’ve always prided ourselves on being at the heart of the Milton Keynes’ community and 2023 was no exception. The centre delivered an array of world class arts projects, community-based initiatives and fundraising activations supporting the wider city and beyond.

We helped to generate almost half a million pounds in monetary and in-kind donations through various events and activities in the past year alone. What’s more, centre:mk celebrated 275 days of hosting buskers throughout the mall, providing local artists with a unique platform to share their art forms - be it music, dance, or performance in a high-profile, high footfall environment.

2023 was a standout year for new stores in the centre, with 10 new store openings including H&M, Reiss, Mango, and Pho.

We ran 23 large scale events in Middleton Hall including our two Fashion Weekend events, pulling in close to 500,000 people over the weekends, as well as our Black History Month celebration, Handmade & Vintage Shows, Second Life Fashion events, Job Show and our spectacular Christmas Grotto to name just a few.

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The real stand out for 2023 though, was the sheer number of community events and initiatives that we hosted at centre:mk, totalling 784 – including the world class art installation ‘The Place Between’ as part of International Festival, and the ever-popular free kids club which runs a different themed craft activity every month outside M&S, to name just two.

The year was topped off with overwhelmingly generosity from you – our wonderful guests, who at Christmas, gave around £4500 worth of donated gifts to children in refuges up and down the country as part of ‘The Giving Tree’ initiative.