Mailout Magazine April May 3 2011

April / May 2011
www.mailout.co
Cuts and investment - A bigger perspective

Values -What do we value in participatory arts?
World Community Arts Day The first five years
Elephants and amphitheatres - Dodgy Clutch on building
April/May 2011
mailout
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Contents
REGULARS
Calipso
Letter from the editors
Elephant builds amphitheatre!

28
Dodgy Clutch on building in South Africa
Artman
VALUES - A MAILOUT FOCUS
Funding
39
Valuing participatory arts

Louise Yates from Clear Perspectives Ltd
gets to grips with values
20
The Five Minute Poet

Alison White on Throwing Voices
What do we value in participatory arts?

Connected Culture on peer review
22
Talking Through The Arts

Sector transformation
24
Clipout
Arts organisations cant communicate?
41
Social change and celebration

Steph Vajda travels four continents in
search of values
COLUMNS
mailout is:
Published by Mailout Trust Limited
Editors:
Robert Howell and Sue Robinson
Contributing Editors:
Lyndsey Wilson and Claire Williams
Funding Editor: Julian Dunn
Administration: Culturapedia
PARTNERSHIPS - A MAILOUT FOCUS
COVER:
FEATURES
Main photo Quilt: Kate Ransohoff

(2011). Image reproduced by kind
permission of Jon Goell
Arts Council Funding

Cuts and Investment
Interview
Emma Ernsth about the we are more
campaign
10
Celebration
Andrew Crummy on World Community
Arts Day
14
Thumbnail Hijinx Theatre
mailout is the national magazine

for people developing
participation in the arts. The
mailout Trust aims to promote and
advance the practice,
understanding and profile of high
quality participatory arts in the
UK.
The mailout Trust Ltd is a company
Ltd by Guarantee. Registered in
England No. 5252801
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61A Manor Road,
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CALIPSO
Art for Wellbeing and Enterprise

Robert Howell feeds back on a Cartwheel
Arts project
32
Refugees take centre stage

34
Katherine Rogers explores the benefits of
partnership between community arts and
mainstream venues
Lets get lyrical
A month of celebration with 69 partner
organisations
36
mailout time for revolution 3
LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

ARTMAN
Wither a cultural revolution?

When the old is dying but the
new cannot be born, a great
variety of morbid symptoms
appear Antonio Gramsci
At the time of print we dont
know who in the public funded
arts sector in England is dead or
alive. Its a strange in-between
world of ideas and fear. People
chatting away and then
finishing their conversations
with Well, lets get back to that
in April. We know what they
mean.
Do we exist? Someone
somewhere has made those
decisions already but are
making us wait for a
simultaneous nationally
coordinated dump and run on
the 30th.
Chatting with a University

Lecturer the other day, we found
ourselves wondering where the
arts sector will find its future
thinkers. We realised that if the
arts and humanities are being
diminished in schools - and the
courses you can select get
diminished at universities
through cuts - then how can an
arts sector survive, and thrive
when its food chain is slowly
being removed from under its
feet?
How will we get policy
makers to understand the
intrinsic value of working in the
arts and cultural sector in a
world where growth means
money, not intellect? Where will
new ideas come from? How will
future problems be solved?
We are going through a

withering of the value of
creative thought within our
education system, a withering of
the intrinsic value of culture to
our communities. A sense that
unless we can put a pound on
our heads, what we do is not
valued.
A time for a call to a cultural
revolution
The Editors
FIVE MINUTE POET

mailout poetry 4
The Five Minute Poet

. and Throwing Voices
Its not just ventriloquists that
need to throw their voices. Ten
years ago it came as a bit of
shock - to the nave writer in me
- that poets also need to make
their voices sound as if they are
coming from inanimate objects
from time to time.
www.alisonwhitecreative.wordpress.com
Follow Alisons blog at:
One of the first writing classes I

attended was run by the writer
Jane Eagland and took place in a
room above Clitheroe library. It
came as a nice change to be
taught rather than to teach,
which was my career at the time.
Im not sure where I had been
hiding myself for all those years
previous to starting writing, Id
done a lot of reading but I had
never really appreciated the
sheer number of voices poets
inhabit in just one collection of
their work, let alone over a
lifetime.
The task set was to choose a
famous or infamous character
alive or dead, real or fictional and to write as if an inanimate
object associated with them
could speak. We were to become
the voice of the object. Ok, I
thought, and internally rolled my
eyes because, naturally, the
censor in me thought the task
was madness. But of course,
Jane was in actual fact giving
aspiring writers a chance to be
less self-conscious about their
poetic voice.
When we are actively being
Picassos paintbrush, Jack the
Rippers knife or Claptons
guitar, our inner censor is
flummoxed. He or she cannot

justifiably tell the writer off for
saying the wrong thing, having
no idea of the sort of things that
said paintbrush, knife, guitar
would say. How could they? The
censor is no poet.
And so, with a penchant at the
time for cruel men, I ended up
creating my first poem to be
published. One word of apology,
sorry about Heathcliffs
language, the boot told me to
say it and my inner censor was
too wrong footed to do anything
about it.
The Five Minute Poet is Alison White,

Writer, Poet, Playwright.
Being Heathcliffs Boot

He is unearthing me.
His blade scratches, switch, switch,
digging away the soil
with which I am ridden.
Filthy, dirty, he spits,
Bitch, bitch, bitch.
He marched me to Catherines grave.
Its black soil bubbled with worm casts
air-filled lungs that he stamped out,
crushed by his weight on me,
on her, as we had wrest
with her elements, ghosts of his lust.
The cleaving earth falls to earth,
severed from toe and tongue.
Inside me is thrust his calloused hand,
fingers cruelly splayed, gripping me within.
I am to be dealt with.
Alison White
Sector transformation
unlikely to be kind or gentle
Diane Ragsdale from Erasmus University Rotterdam, gives an American
perspective on the possible futures for the non-profit sector.
In 2008, Paul Light (Professor of
Public Service at NYU) wrote an
article for the Nonprofit
Quarterly in which he speculated
on Four Futures for the nonprofit sector arising out of the
recession:
Rescue Fantasy: non-profits
saved by significant increases

in contributions;
Withering Winterland:
organisations starve
themselves into a weakened
organisational state;
Arbitrary Winnowing:
survival of the largest, oldest,
and best connected;
Transformation: a redesign of
the sector that leaves it
stronger; more vibrant, more
sustainable, and more
impactful.
of the new firm and the new

entrepreneur as the vehicles for
innovation. He also popularised
the term creative destruction in
economics a term derived from
Marxist economic theory.
Schumpeter used this to
represent the destroying of old
economic structures in order to
create new ones.
In the arts and culture sector we
seem to want to reap the
benefits of transformation
without the process of creative
destruction. We say we want
transformation but we refuse to
let underperforming
organisations die. We shy away
from defunding what has always
been funded in order to fund that
which has never been funded, or
desperately try to maintain an
the gain of progress is unlikely to be

accomplished without the pain
Dr. Lights prediction appears to
be panning out. Across the nonprofit arts sector we have, by and
large, witnessed a winnowing
and a withering the past couple
years. For all the jabbering about
transformation, we dont (yet)
appear to be manifesting it. Ive
been reading essays by the
economist Joseph
Schumpeter who identified
innovation as a critical
dimension of economic change
and emphasized the importance
It described the propensity for

those who already possess power
or capital to leverage those
resources to gain more power or
capital. The term comes from the
bible passage Matthew 25:29
(NRS version.)
Is arbitrary winnowing the
future we want? With more
being given to those who already
have the most? Survival of (only)
the oldest, largest, and best
connected, and not necessarily
the best performing?
If not, and if we are sincere
about wanting transformation,
then the gain of progress is
unlikely to be accomplished
without the pain of losing or
challenging some longstanding
industry structures, beliefs,
practices, jobs, conventions, and
hierarchies.
overbuilt infrastructure. Such

reactionary impulses to preserve
the status quo will not result in
a kinder and gentler
transformation. On the contrary,
they may result in stagnation of
the arts and culture sector. I fear,
however, that if we do so we may
regret what we have become in
years to come.
In 1968, the sociologist Robert K.
Merton coined the term the
Matthew Effect (in sociology).
Read more at: www.artsjournal.com/

jumper/2011/03/sector-transformationunlikely-to-be-kind-or-gentle/
mailout sector transformation 5
TALKING THROUGH THE ARTS
mailout cuts and investment 6
ARTS COUNCIL FUNDING
As English participatory arts

organisations await their fate
mailout decided to look at
what some of our other UK
readers are facing. This digital
edition of mailout is being
published a few days before
Arts Council England
announces its decisions for
2012 onwards.
Losing revenue funding is
painful and traumatic but not
necessarily the end of the line.
Wales
Image: Hijinx Theatre
The Welsh Arts Council has

taken a decidedly different
approach to Arts Council
England and the regularly
funded organisations who
already know their fate. With
ninety-five existing RFOs
about twenty-eight percent
are predominantly
participatory (slightly above
the percentage in England
and about the same as
Scotland). So what has
happened to the west of
Offas Dyke? At the end of
June last year The Arts
Council of Wales published
the first part of its

Investment Review:
Renewal and
transformation: building a
stronger future for the arts in
Wales- the result of 18
months work looking at what
and how it funds the arts. The
review was undertaken and
published before the Welsh
Assembly had told ACW how
much money they had for
the coming year. The
process involved a strategic
review of business plans - of
the current and aspiring
regularly funded
organisations - and
decisions based on
geographic and art form
balance.
Last November the Welsh
Assembly announced its
draft budget, including its
spending allocation for the
Arts Council for the coming
three year period. Over the
next three years there will be
a four percent reduction in
the funds available for the
arts programme and a twelve
percent reduction in ACWs
running costs. English arts
Cuts and investment:
a bigger perspective
organisations will stare jealously

across the border.
Participation and taking part is
emphasised as important by
Arts Council Wales. (Sadly this
does not seem to be reflected in
Arts Council Englands strategic
plan). Its worth quoting from
the document:
Taking part in
the arts
>>>
We know that vibrant and

sustainable communities are
about neighbourhood and place.
Theyre about the everyday

issues of community spirit,
safety, health and education
the ties that bind people and
communities together. But
theyre also about enjoyment,
well-being and inclusion - being
part of the community, not
apart from it. At its best, taking
part in the arts actively
empowers people to engage in
the cultural life that surrounds
them.
In Wales, the best community
arts activity has a strong and
distinct character. For us,
its about change, authorship

and ownership that
remarkable ability of the skilled
arts professional to work
alongside individuals and
communities, finding their
voice, unlocking a new
dimension of experience that
would otherwise have remained
unused or undiscovered. This is
the work that will be the priority
for our future investment: work
which empowers and connects;
work which is unique, authentic
and life-affirming, work which
at its best is genuinely
transformational.

In December, following the
favourable funding decision
from the Welsh Assembly, ACW
published the second part of its
investment review, Delivering
our vision: a Strategy for
Success. in which it declared
its intention to increase its
funding to community arts
organisations whose activities
inspire and engage, delivering
transformational community
regeneration that makes the
arts a more important part of
peoples everyday lives. A
particular priority will be our
support for community arts
organisations working across
the South Wales Valleys .
We now feel
quite
schizophrenic
excited about
our work one
minute and not
knowing our
futures the
next.
The review doesnt pull its

punches. In June they listed
who will be included in the core
portfolio and those who
wont; giving nine months
notice of disinvestment to the
unlucky ones.
Its good news for Arts Care,
Arts Connection, Head for Arts,
RCT Community Arts, Theatr
Felinfach, Valley and Vale
Community Arts and Valleys
Kids.
CARAD, (Community Arts

Rhayader & District) is one
company that is to lose its
revenue funding. ACW say that
the focus of CARADs activities
has changed and are more
linked to its new heritage
museum. mailout spoke to
CARADs Liz Pugh who said that
they faced a series of
challenges but are remaining
optimistic that their creative
thinking will help them through
the next few months. She
added: Were working with
consultants and are looking at
all the options that enable us to
continue to provide a
successful community arts and
heritage programme.
One of the strengths of
participatory arts companies
and organisations is that they
dont always fit nicely into a
box. Participation forms a
significant part of the work
and ethos of a lot of companies
who can be found elsewhere in
Arts Council Wales thinking.
Such as Arad Goch, from
Aberystwyth, who will continue
to receive funding to develop
theatre with young people;
community dance companies
Dawns i Bawb and Dawns Tan

are to be maintained whereas
Community Dance Wales is to
be cut.
Hijinx fall into the category of
Theatre Production. The report
was not good news for Hijinx
whove featured a number of
times in the pages of mailout.
The successes of Hijinx are, in
our view, more mixed. Hijinx
has attracted praise for its
developmental work around
Odyssey Theatre and the Unity
Festival, but community
touring has been perceived as
less consistent.... We will offer
continued support to Hijinx,
but at a reduced level focusing
on work with people with
learning disabilities and the
Odyssey Theatre project.
Hijinx have led a high profile
campaign against the decision
including a petition and
lobbying.
Val Hill told mailout: The
board and I are quite disturbed
by the decision by the ACW,
there seems to be no real
reason or justification or
rationale behind the decision.
There was a question raised
over our consistency and
quality but yet there was no
evidence to prove this.
Image: CARAD
We were told that our tour was

too wide as it went across the
border: I can see the issue of
work being to benefit people in
Wales but why have they not
raised this issue before in the
past?
We now feel quite
schizophrenic excited about
our work one minute and not
knowing our futures the next.
Weve got fantastic ideas and
events but were feeling
depressed and despondent that
Of the five companies that

have gained RFO status for the
first time is Theatr Ffynnon who work with adults with
learning difficulties & physical
disabilities, involving them as
creators, performers & decision
makers. No Fit State Circus
produces professional touring
productions at all scales and
has a wide range of
community, training, and
education projects for people
of all ages.
Assembly.
The detail is yet to be
confirmed but the arts look set
to lose 1.4 million over the four
year budget period, rather than
the disproportionate 4.2
million that was initially
proposed in the draft budget
2011-15. The Executive has also
made an additional 1.4 million
available for capital
development in the arts.
Well bring more detail of the
implications as we find out
about them.
Northern Ireland
The Arts Council of Northern

Ireland has just heaved a sigh
of relief at an improved arts
budget agreed by the
Although participation is mentioned in one of

the five strategic objectives published by
Creative Scotland it comes third in a list after
audiences and access. It is hard to find much
understanding of participation in any of their
documentation. There are only fifty-one
foundation organisations, (equivalent of RFOs
in England and Wales). A generous assessment
by mailout has defined fifteen or twenty nine
percent as participatory.
Creative Scotland's budget has been frozen for
2011-12. Foundation organisations will take a
four percent cut.
Their first goal for 2020 is for Scotland to have
the highest levels of participation in the arts in
the UK with creativity reaching into every
home. To do this Creative Scotland will:
Develop a National Youth Arts strategy for

Scotland that will put young people at the
heart of its design
Reach into every school in through the
Creativity Portal
Invest in projects that inspire communities
everywhere like Get Scotland Dancing
during the Year of Creative Scotland in 2012
Continue to invest 10m each year in the
Youth Music Initiative
Invest in a major programme of cultural
work with older people in partnership with
a major charitable foundation.
There is an emphasis on mass participation

but little explanation of what this means. A
capacity for vagueness is strongly in
evidence.
We plan to challenge Creative Scotland for
more detail in the next issue of mailout.
we were cut by such a huge

amount. From the 4% cuts
to the ACW budget we were cut
by 40%.
Scotland
mailout we are more 10
EUROPE
we are
more
mailouts Claire Williams speaks to Campaign Co-ordinator,
Emma Ernsth about her role in the we are more campaign.
I think that
cutting arts
and culture has
a severe
impact if you
want to live in
a cohesive
peaceful and
socially
innovative
Europe in the
future.
affairs without focusing on the

wider picture.
Emma Ernsth
Theres been much debate in

the UK, what with the new
coalition government, the
funding cuts, the national
portfolio decisions investment
reviews in Wales, Scotland and
Northern Ireland... Its no
wonder that weve kept a close
eye on our countrys own
Culture and the arts arent just

under threat in our homeland
but in the rest of Europe too.
This is where we are more steps
in. As a Europe-wide arts
advocacy campaign we are
more aims to protect the
culture of Europe by increasing
support for cultural activities
that benefit all European
citizens and stimulate their
enjoyment of the arts.
Set up by Culture Action
Europe the campaign is timed
in correspondence with the
upcoming EU political and
financial negotiations for the
period of 2014-2020. we are
more hopes to function as an
eye-opener for the policymakers at a local, regional and

national level, to reimagine
public investment and
contribute to developing
human, cultural and social
capital Europes most
precious assets.
Culture Action Europe currently
represents 50,000 arts and
culture players across Europe
and beyond. mailout had the
opportunity to speak to Emma
Ernsth, Campaign Co-ordinator
of Culture Action Europe, about
how we too can take an active
role in reshaping arts and
culture in Europe.
mailout: Tell us a bit about your

background and how it led to
your role as Campaign Coordinator for Culture Action
Europe?
Emma: Im from Sweden
originally and before I joined
the Culture Action Europe team
in April last year I worked for
another member organisation
for Culture Action Europe
called Trans Europe Halles,
which is the European network
of independent cultural
centres. I was recruited as
Campaign Co-ordinator, parttime, with the specific tasks of
finalising the campaign
strategies, working on
campaigns, communications
and fund-raising.
I also work a lot with member
involvement so the idea with
the campaign is obviously to
mobilise our members and
carry the campaign message.
We aim to reach out to other
cultural organisations, ideally
through tools like the we are
more campaign manifesto
weve just launched. We want
to reach out to individuals as
well; we need as many sign ups
from as many individuals as
possible who care about
culture in Europe today.
m: In the UK we are facing
severe cuts in the arts what
problems or challenges are the
rest of Europe facing?
E: There are similar issues in the
rest of Europe, there are many
uncertainties concerning the
EU budget in general. Many
members states are arguing
that because of budget
restraints on a national level,
and the current political and
economical crisis, they want to
reduce their membership fee to
the European Union which
would mean if this goes
through we will see a reduced

global budget for the EU in the
next financial prospective.
I think its the same on the
national level, that the arts and
culture sector is threatened
because its a very simple area
to cut. I feel this is ridiculous
because the culture budgets are
minimal to start with so youre
not saving hardly any money
at all. I think that cutting arts
and culture has a severe impact
if you want to live in a cohesive
peaceful and socially
innovative Europe in the future.
m: Have you found there are
areas in Europe that are more
passionate for this cause than
others?
E: Weve just launched our
campaign manifesto. On our
website we have a page where
we can see how much support
we receive per country, so
were very curious ourselves to
see where most of the support
is coming from!
We have a lot of signatures
from Italy and the UK, also
Eastern European countries,
they are the ones that stand
out. Within our membership
weve launched national coordination groups because if
you want to influence EU
cultural policy you have to
start on a national level
because thats where all the
decisions are made.
We have a very active group in
Poland, the Polish EU
presidency starts this summer
and is strategically important.
Our Polish members are really
eager to get involved with the
campaign and are planning
lots of activities.
m: What activities have you got
planned to promote the
campaign?
E: The biggest activity were

planning and mobilizing
together will be when the
European Commission
publishes it proposal for the
next EU budget that will
happen by the end of July if
there are no delays.
EUROPE
m: How do you hope this

campaign will sway the EU
budget? What would be the
best outcome?
E: The best possible outcome
would be that the overall
budget for the EU wont be
reduced and we wont see any
reductions but rather an
increase in the Europe Unions
commitment to set up good
policies and appropriate
budgets for culture.
Image: www.wearemore.eu publicity campaign materials
EUROPE
Image: www.wearemore.eu publicity campaign materials
Our plan is to make a political

statement depending on what
we see in that proposal, we
cannot predict at this stage
whats going to go in there. The
uncertainty calls for a strategy
that is really flexible.
We monitor whats happening
across Europe and were trying
to show solidarity with
campaigns that are going on at
a national level, like in the UK.
In the Netherlands they had a
campaign called The
Netherlands Queens for
Culture.
We dont want to send a
message that says the EU
should compensate for cuts on
a national level, because we
need funding for arts and
culture on all levels, thats very
much a part of our
communication strategy as
well.
m: How would you encourage
others to be a part of the
campaign?
E: If they care about arts and
culture in Europe this
campaign is running now,
theres a real opportunity to
influence the EUs decision and
their budget for the arts and
culture and it comes once
every decade. We want to raise
our voice and show that we
care, that we want, and we can,
contribute to our European
societies.
We are running this campaign
as an open source campaign so
its free for everyone to join. On
our website in the join section
individuals and organisations
can access tools to give
visibility to the campaign, they
can use our logo and sign up to
our newsletter.
EUROPE
At the moment we are putting
a lot of focus on our campaign
manifesto, its for individual
sign ups and well use it as a
tool to reinforce our campaign.
m: Are there any influential
figures helping with this
campaign?
E: Were very happy for the
support by Commission
President Barroso and hes
made a video statement in
support of the campaign which
is on our website. Weve had
ideas of having Campaign
Ambassadors but its a
question of resources. Now we
have our manifesto out were
asking members if they know
anyone famous who would like
to sign up!
m: Are you doing anything
related to the campaign today
then?
E: I am writing a funding
application for one of the
campaigns. Its almost like an
experiment to run such a broad
campaign, you want to involve
everyone but we have such
limited resources so were
counting a lot on the viral
effects and word of mouth so
the message multiples. Its
really exciting and also very
touching to hear all the stories
from people you get in touch
with, weve had a lot of people
who have helped with
translations spontaneously, the
manifesto is now available in
more than 20 languages.
We just started using Facebook
and thats got us in contact
with more individuals that
want to be engaged with the
campaign and thats more
sunshine stories for us and
keeps us going.
FACTFILE
we are more is a Europe-wide
arts advocacy campaign that
seeks to mobilize everyone
who cares about culture in
Europe to influence the
political negotiations on the
next EU budget (2014-2020)
an opportunity that only
comes once every decade!
The ultimate goal of the
campaign is to contribute to a
strengthened recognition of
the role of arts and culture in
the development of our
European societies.
The website isnt pretty but
you can sign the manifesto,
download a logo for use in email signatures etc, download
posters and a leaflet or
download one of three images
to amend creatively and send
back.
Theres tonnes of useful
information about culture in
Europe and news about whos
doing what where.
To sign up, or to find out more
on about the we are more
campaign, visit:
www.wearemore.eu
Image: Quilt: Kate Ransohoff (2011)credit Jon Goell
mailout WCAD 14
CELEBRATION
The fifth annual World Community Arts Day

took place on February 17th 2011. In its first
five years World Community Arts Day has
been celebrated globally by thousands upon
thousands of people in every continent.
Its greatest achievement so far is to show
that Community Arts is a vibrant, maturing
artform that has meaning in contemporary
society - a voyage of discovery that has only
just begun.
Over the years I have witnessed a constant attack

on community arts. People would say that it was
not relevant, it was not mainstream art or proper
art, its time has come and gone and the world has
moved on. And so the negativity goes on and on.
World Community Arts Day asks that an individual
or group celebrate the day by being creative, using
the arts as a catalyst, however big or small, for an
issue they wish to highlight that promotes caring
and sharing. We also ask that the activity is
recorded, broadcast or celebrated on the internet
so others can enjoy it too.
mailout WCAD 15
CELEBRATION
World
Community
Arts Day
17.02.11
mailout presents a snapshot of what

went on and asks founder Andrew
Crummy for his perspective on the first
five years.
World Community Arts Day started in 2007, to
remember a remarkable man called Reg Bolton.
Reg inspired many children around the world to
learn and use circus skills in a community setting.
He was an inspirational man, and when he died
many wanted to celebrate his achievements. It was
at one of Regs memorial events that the World
Community Arts Day idea was conceived through a
conversation with Mike Rowan aka Big Rory - an
eight foot Scotsman!
Reg was only one of the many pioneers of the
sixties and seventies who laid down the firm
foundations of a movement that has grown

steadily since. What I have found through World
Community Arts Day is that there are many
projects globally that accept Community Arts as a
given.
I was born and brought up in Craigmillar,
Edinburgh, in the seventies, (a so called poor
area). My memories of Craigmillar were full of
colour, circus, community musicals, processions in fact all the arts. My mother was the organising
secretary of The Craigmillar Festival Society so I
am very much a child of Community Arts. Now I
mailout WCAD 16
CELEBRATION
realise I am not the only child of
Community Arts out there. There
are many more who have been
equally inspired.
Over the years there have been thousands of projects, large

and small. I cannot list them all but here is a taste of World
Community Arts Day:
Ken Wolverton in New Mexico and Kev Ryan at Charnwood
As World Community Arts Day

has developed, I think it is
important to try and understand
the nature of what is developing,
rather than have a preconceived
idea of how it should be. As well
as Community Arts
organisations, who tend to
organise real events like
exhibitions, concerts, parades
and workshops; there is an
emergent virtual community
which uses the social media;
Facebook, Twitter, Flickr,
Youtube, Myspace, etc.
Arts were the first to get involved in 2007.

Happy Postcard by Sandra Givan on Flickr and the How to
make a paperboat in 30 seconds on Youtube by Three
Harbours Arts Festival. Photos of Craigmillar Festival Society
on Flickr are all well into 100,000s of hits.
There have been several TV and radio broadcasts on the day
including the live performance of All you need is love by
Peopleprint in Rochdale with local tribute band The Cheatles,
an orchestra and a host of locals including Rochdales Lord
Major.
Theres been a live, world drumming event lead by Drumatik,
an inclusive drumming group from Fife broadcasted on the
Rocca Gutteridge internet radio show. It was very loud!
World Community Arts Day

I think it is
important to try works best on the social media
and understand sites. That is where it becomes
exciting. You find the wider
the nature of
audience that has no negative
what is
issue with Community Arts, in
developing,
fact it is the opposite. I find
rather than
myself thinking, Wait a minute,
have a
maybe, just maybe Community
preconceived
Arts is much wider than I
idea of how it
thought.
should be.
it has been a
privilege to get
to know some
of the great
work that is
happening
around the
world. There are
so many great
projects,
completed in so
many ways.
For me, it has been a privilege to

get to know some of the great
work that is happening around
the world. There are so many
great projects, completed in so
many ways. World Community
Arts Day has been a steep
learning curve on many levels.
For now it just has to grow
slightly each year, giving itself
time to develop, to root itself in
communities and groups. World
Community Arts Day is only one
day. A snapshot of a vast global
movement, a movement full of
vibrancy, colour and
excitement.
There has been new music created through Homely Planet

FM in Northern Ireland.
Many artworks have been produced including
COYOLXAUHQUI by Mexican muralist Patricia Quijano,
dedicated to the use of art, as a protest against violence to
women. Chrissie Orr and Bobbe Besold in Santa Fe working
with youth in a shelter created an artwork entitled, This Is
What Peace Looks Like.
Many great groups with a wide membership have taken part:
Actalive who deal with Art and AIDS mainly in Africa and
Asia, Social Creatives in Singapore, Community Arts Forum
in Northern Ireland, The Neighbourhood Arts Network and
Community Art Council of Vancouver in Canada and Artist
Meeting Place (AMP) based in Los Angeles to name a few.
There have been regular events such as the Windows on the
World concert in Hamilton, exhibitions at The Riverfront
Arts Centre, Newport; workshops in Action Factory,
Blackburn; parades in San Paulo, Brazil; sculptures in
Poland, Slovenia and Israel; circus in Galway; student
projects from the Creative Communities Unit, Staffordshire
University; commentaries from Arlene Goldbard in USA and
much activity from Hayley Fern and Rawlins Community
College in Quorn.
Next World Community Arts Day is 17th February 2012

www.communiversity.org.uk/worldcommunityartsday
mailout WCAD 17
CELEBRATION
What did you do?

Quilt: Art to
Mend the World
In honour of World Community
Arts Day, Quilt: Art to Mend the
World put on a fantastic
exhibition featuring their latest
addition of quilts based on the
theme Money- contradictions
and conundrums.
Money-contradictions and
conundrums made its debut at
Kradleboard in Franklin,
Tennessee. It will also be
displayed in the Washington D.C.
area throughout April, and is
expected to return to Nashville,
TN, in Autumn 2011.
The question posed by Quilt
artist Kate Ransohoff on World
Community Arts Day was - What
does money mean - in the world
and - to you?
The full Quilt collection may be
found at www.krquilt.com.
Images courtesy of Jon Goell
mailout WCAD 18
CELEBRATION
Our children
thoroughly
enjoyed their
time spent at
Action Factory
as part of
WCAD. They
were fascinated
by the project
that enabled
them to create
their own
butterflies and
then, through
digital
technology,
make them take
flight.
Local Teacher
Action Factory, Blackburn
Above and below, children from Cedars Primary School,

Blackburn participating at Action Factory
Action Factory threw open its doors on World

Community Arts Day for the third time. To celebrate,
they held a fun-filled day for three classes from local
schools with a variety of creative activities.
Action Factory decided to try out something new and
invited the Love Bytes to come run a digital butterfly
workshop where hand-crafted butterflies were brought
to life on a digital animated landscape.
Other activities included "paint by numbers" - a Big
Society painting, a flash mob dance, a drumming and
singing workshop and a Headline Poetry session where
newspapers were used to create poignant poetry.
Flamboyant hats were also made in a retro workshop
"Get Ahead Get a Hat" and written messages from the
children were photographed by the Action Factorys very
own CCTV camera all featured in Action Factorys
gallery. www.actionfactory.org
Lakeshore Arts and

Neighbour Arts Network
In recognising World Community Arts Day,
the Neighbourhood Arts Network
celebrated the contributions that Toronto
artists make to local and global
communities.
Participants at Lakeshore Arts.
Held at Lakeshore Arts, Toronto, A Love

Letter to Community Arts created a space
for artists and cultural workers to connect
and share, and a provided a way to say
thank you to the artists and arts supporters
who make Toronto so vibrant.
www.web.net/~lakearts
InterAct Reading Service

Rose Sawkins, an actor-reader with InterAct
Reading Service, tells us how she celebrated World
Community Arts Day - it was business as usual!
I was on the 6th floor of the stroke recovery ward
at my local hospital, the Royal Free, in North West
London. I am an actor-reader for InterAct Reading
Service, a small charity, recently awarded Guardian
Charity of The Year (2009) for ten years of service
to stroke recovery.
Working the Thursday afternoon session, I read
(and sang) - as part of a team of over 200
professional actors who visit a total of fifteen

London hospitals, five regional hospitals and 49
stroke clubs. We work one-to-one at a patients
bedside or in a day room. In the stroke clubs we are
invited to both provide entertainment for former
patients, who have made advanced progress
in their rehabilitation and to facilitate arts practice
including their own written and performance work.
These clubs are a place to spend time with others
who are negotiating the complicated terrain of readapting to life back in the real world.
Rose Sawkins
Actor-reader for InterAct Reading Service.
www.interactreading.org
New building and brand

launch
For yOur Prescap, Prestons participatory arts
charity and social enterprise, World Community
Arts Day saw the opening of their new home, the
Arts & Media Centre. The opening event marked a
significant milestone in the 25 year history of yOur
Prescap.
Following the launch was yOur Prescaps
Community Arts Week where free creative
workshops were held to celebrate the launch of the
new Arts & Media Centre.
www.prescap.co.uk
Image courtesy of Prescap
mailout WCAD 19
CELEBRATION
mailout valuing participatory arts 20
VALUES
Living your
values
influences
many aspects
of running an
organisation
all of which
ultimately has
a real impact
upon its
performance
Valuing parti
Imagine this scenario
Your organisation has a clear
vision and way of working which
all your employees understand
and buy into. Decisions come
easily to you as a leader and you
know what motivates your
employees. They love coming to
work and consequently their
productivity is high, they
perform to their full potential
and both staff absenteeism and
turnover is low. Externally your
organisation is seen as a great
place to work and you are
known throughout your industry
for what you stand for, your
reputation for living up to this,
so you attract both the
customers and employees which
will make your organisation a
success. An impossible task you
ask? Not once you understand
and take seriously your values
your own personal values, the
values of your employees and
individual. They influence the

work you prefer to do, the way
you spend your time, who you
choose to associate with and
they shape the way you lead
your organisation. Examples of
personal values are respect,
care, belonging, cooperation,
financial success, quality, fun,
technology and environmental
responsibility.
Organisational or core values
represent what is most
important to your organisation.
They provide a blueprint for a
way of working and, when the
behaviours and actions of your
organisation align with your
values your organisation will
benefit from a clear sense of
identity both internally and
externally.
For example the Co-operatives
ethical values are Openness,
I mean really understanding the role values play within

organisations, getting crystal clear clarity about those crucial to
your success and then aligning all actions and behaviours to be
congruent with them.
the values of your organisation.
I dont mean sitting down for an
afternoon, jotting down a few
words and then pinning them on
the wall for all to see
So what are values?

Your values represent what is
most important to you. Your
personal values reflect what is
most important to you as an
working and harnessing the

potential of employees.
How can understanding

your values help you and
your organisation?
We are not talking fluffy stuff
here. Living your values
influences many aspects of
running an organisation all of
which ultimately has a real
impact upon its performance.
Values and Leading with

Integrity
When you honour your personal
values in your role as a leader
you feel fulfilled and motivated,
good quality decisions come
more easily and you are able to
sleep at night knowing the
choices you have made are true
to who you are. Following the
recent financial crisis much has
been discussed about the
qualities of leaders and research
indicates that leaders who show
integrity, who are true to their
values earn far more respect and
are more trusted that those who
dont.
Social responsibility, and Caring

for others.
Values and Decisionmaking
Research shows that those

organisations which have
successfully outlasted recessions
are those with a clear set of
values which focus beyond the
end result. They represent a
deeper sense of purpose
creating enjoyable ways of
Having a core set of values for

your organisation as a whole
provides every employee with a
consistent framework to guide
their decisions on a daily basis.
Which suppliers do you want to
work with? Which customers do
you want to attract? Which
markets will you choose to
icipatory arts
enter? Who do you employ?
Values and Motivation
mailout valuing participatory arts 21
VALUES
When your employees are

engaged in work which is
meaningful in terms of their own
personal values they will be
more motivated and more
productive. Aligning employees
own values with those of the
organisation helps ensure that
everyone is pulling in the same
direction.
Values and Team Working

Recognising and accepting
differences between yourself
and others is a key step in being
able to better understand those
you work with. With
understanding comes a far
higher level of rapport which in
turn forms the foundation of
great working relationships.
Values and Productivity

When you know your personal
values and your employees are
more connected with theirs it is
easier to be clear about what is
really important to everybody.
Better understanding of when
people are at their best - and
when they are most productive enables you to make better
decisions about job design and
role allocation within your
organisation.
Values and Recruitment

Recruiting the wrong people to
your organisation is a costly
process. Taking an objective
assessment of a candidates
mailout value 1: Must ensure tea is always available to maintain happy workforce
values during the recruitment

process gives an indication of
what job role they are best
suited to and will be truly
engaged to carry out (which in
turn has an influence over
employee productivity). This will
effect how they will work with
the current team; and the degree
to which they will be committed
to the aspirations and values of
the organisation.
Values and Your

Organisations Brand
How do others perceive your
organisation? Having a clear set
of values, and living up to them,
ensures that a consistent
Louise Yates
message about who you are is
specialises in
communicated to the outside
developing
world which helps to
values-lead
differentiate you from your
organisations.
competitors. Demonstrating
through your values that you are
For more
a great place to work gives you a
information
significant advantage when
contact Louise
attracting and retaining great
Yates at Clear
people.
Perspectives
Ltd.
So what is most important to
you, your employees and to the
success of your organisation?
Can you afford not to find out?
Louise Yates
louise@clear-perspectives.co.uk
mailout connected culture 22
VALUES
We have to
create a
different kind
of
understanding;
we have to
start a different
conversation.
What do we value in
participatory arts?
The moment has arrived for us
to be bold and brave and to
advocate for ourselves. Lets
change the conversation.
Working in participatory arts
with vulnerable adults we ask
our participants: How do you
want to be seen? How do you
want to be represented? What
language do you want to use?
What space do you want to be
in? Who do you want to talk
to?
As professionals working in
adult participatory arts we now
more than ever need to try to
ask these questions of
ourselves, and come together
to make a real change. We need
to have confidence in our own
abilities. We dont have to
apologise for our differences,
or try to fit in to someone elses
understanding of whats
artistically or socially valuable,
or whats successful.
Until we can
show how our
values have
greater
relevance to
our work, well
continue to be
judged by
others values.
We have to create a different

kind of understanding; we have
to start a different
conversation.
To Peer review or not to Peer
Review was a Connected
Culture discussion forum held
in February 2011 looking at
what we value in our work.
Measurement and value are
currently tied up very tightly

with numbers of people
reached, achieving artistic
excellence and maintaining a
healthy financial bottom line.
Lets change the language, use
our own language and ascribe
value to participatory arts that
has meaning to us. So lets talk
about, measure, promote,
evidence, compare and strive
for work guided by values such
as Wellbeing, Creativity,
Diversity, and Humanity. Its
up to us to creatively and
intelligently move the debate
forward and practice
differently.
Until we can show how our
values have greater relevance
to our work well continue to be
judged by others values.
As a starting point, those who
attended Connected Cultures
To Peer review or not to Peer
Review on Monday 28th
February at BAC, South London
had very passionate open
honest discussions. There was
much consensus in the room
that projects should be
developmental, leaving room
to be responsive or change,
and enable risk taking, which
might lead to elements of the

project failing but providing
many learning opportunities
for all involved in creative arts
projects.
We agreed the next positive
step was to test out our values
against current projects. The
process of peer review needs
people to review and be
reviewed and perhaps there
might be a need for a
matchmaker to bring together
the reviewer and reviewee and
negotiate mutually agreed
terms of engagement. As well
as defining values we are
seeking to present a range of
models that will best assist the
review process.
We have attempted to headline
values and put them into some
order but as it is the start of a
journey they should be used as
best suits your project. Just like
the project itself is
developmental so should the
process of review be.
Suggested participatory arts values

Creativity
Equal voices
Social change
Happiness
Support
Emotional resonance
Challenge
Accessibility
Human rights
Celebration
Openness
Empowerment
Honesty
Diversity
Compassion
Desire
Inclusion
Dialogue
Wellbeing
Language
Developmental
Passion
Suggested process to enable peer reviewing
Decide your aim/s

Decide who is involved in the review process: the reviewee, the reviewer, the match maker
Work could be assessed in three parts: intention, process, product
Assessment needs to take place over a period of time
Involve participants, artists, audiences, family, carers, funders
Organisation can set the values they wish to be assessed against
How the reviewer delivers their review (written/verbal) will be discussed on a case by case basis
We, participatory arts organisations, need to start peer assessing and then involve other
professionals
How you can get involved

Individuals and organisations
interested in reviewing, being
reviewed or matchmaking please
contact Connected Culture by April
8th 2011.
Whats going to happen once the
peer review pilots have concluded
Connected Culture plans to host
another discussion forum in
September 2011 (date TBC) to
disseminate and debate learning
from the peer review pilots, and to
agree how best to proceed with
embedding a framework to enable
peer review to continue, and the
value of participatory arts to be
celebrated.
FACT FILE
Connected Culture is currently funded by ACE London, hosted by
Spare Tyre and supported by a Wise Council from leading
participatory arts organisations Streetwise Opera, Dance United,
Clod Ensemble, Survivors Poetry, Bealtaine, Hijinx and Peoples
Palace Projects.
The aims of Connected Culture are:
To encourage an exchange of ideas and practice
To influence policy-making across social, educational,
political and cultural sectors
To raise the profile and status of participatory arts within the
media, with venues and with the wider arts sector
Please join http://connectedculture.ning.com/ Connected
Cultures online network as this is where information about the
peer review pilots and other Connected Culture activity will be
posted, and where you will have an opportunity to share your
own experiences and opinions.
mailout connected culture 23
VALUES
mailout on the road 24
VALUES
On the road: social change

and celebration
Self described cultural empowerment facilitator, Steph Vajda has
travelled the world in search of the underlying values behind
participatory arts
Celebration
spaces, like
festivals, are an
ideal
opportunity
for discussing
and sharing
ideas for a new
world.
How do we create a new world,

a world where acceptance,
respect and collaboration are
the underlying values that
cross geographic and
ideological boundaries? Its a
big question, one that informs
much of the work that we do as
facilitators, activists, artists,
managers, artsworkers and a
whole host of other professions
in the participatory arts
movement.
I found myself
aboard a
motorcycle,
purchased in
London and
freshly mattblacked,
making my
way through
dozens of cities
from Leeds to
Casablanca
and then over
to Sri Lanka,
through twelve
countries
across four
continents.
Social change and the way it

comes about is well
documented throughout
history as a series of
ideological battles - between
opposing viewpoints and
constructions of the world
around us. It can be seen as a
means of humanitys evolution,
even though change in itself is
an ambiguous term, failing to
clarify whose interests arise
from the outcomes.
While the concept of social
justice attempts to convey
more of a desired endpoint, by
alluding to the pursuit of equity
and fairness, what do these
terms actually mean, within
different contexts, to different
people? Depending on political
persuasion and beliefs about
economic and social
ideologies, these concepts of
equity and fairness may

contrast enormously between
people of different cultures,
geographies, wealth status,
gender or spiritual beliefs.
The way in which we, as a fluid
conglomeration of
communities within a global
network, some more plugged in
than others, some more
internally connected than
others, understand each others
values and connect this to a
collaborative mindset is my
principle interest through this
work, and in life more
generally. Collaboration, to me,
should be as easy and
instinctive as waking in the
morning (or afternoon,
depending on your inclination)
and must underpin the way we
grow and change. Idealistic as
that may seem, societies built
on collaboration and
participation have been
theorised greatly and practiced
rarely, so the evidence against
its practical implementation is
offered from the same source
of belief that installs
competition as the ultimate
basis for societal development.
Community festivals are,
mostly, an inspiring or at least
illuminating experience for all
involved, although perhaps
gruelling could be an
accompanying descriptor used
by the production team
involved. These generally
smaller scale events are
immersed in the local
community in which they take
place, they include local people
in their design and production,
and showcase the talents, skills
and resources that exist in the
locality. They are a well
documented means of
showcasing the identity of a
place and how this identity
relates to the outside world.
They are indeed powerful
creations and, for me, an
excellent means of
propagating the concept of
collaboration in a tangible
way.
Celebration spaces, like
festivals, are an ideal
opportunity for discussing and
sharing ideas for a new world.
However, while there is a
relatively wide body of
research looking at the use of
the festival to facilitate social
change, discussion and action,
there seems a scarcity of
practical resources to
specifically assist in joining the
dots between theory and
practice.
Gaps between ideas and their
Image courtesy of Steph Vajda
VALUES
application are well documented

in many fields and specific areas
of work. Creating practical
resources based on sound
research was the original
motivation in 2009 for
imagining this research project.
One year later, I found myself
aboard a motorcycle, purchased
in London and freshly mattblacked, making my way
through dozens of cities from
Leeds to Casablanca and then
over to Sri Lanka, through twelve
countries across four continents
(including the journeys origins
in Australia). During these
adventures, Ive been fortunate
enough to meet with festival
producers and directors, cultural
facilitators, artists, enterprise
facilitators, and community arts
managers who have been willing
to share their stories about their
work, philosophy and visions for

a more participatory future.
Assembling the review of
published and online material
and meetings into something
tangible is a complex task and
one that I am keen to see
produce multiple outcomes.
Initially, I am working on an
honours thesis, the findings of
which will inform the design of
creative resources to support
festival producers, artsworkers,
change agents, community
organisers and government
agencies. Most of the interviews
have also been filmed and/or
audio recorded, so a further
stage will be to edit these
interviews into themed film and
audio materials. Then creating a
festivals for social change
website to feature this content,
together with promoting the

wider body of research and
practice. Part of the
development of this website will
also be to formalise an
international network of
community festivals interested
in social change, to share ideas
and the results of our practice.
While I am still in the grips of
analysing the mountains of data
I now have (some say I bite off
more than I can chew, but I just
know Im a fast chewer), there
are some clear findings
emerging:
>>>
VALUES
> Festivals can be autonomous

spaces, imaginary zones
conceptually removed from the
limitations of everyday
thinking. This frees people to
be able to vision effectively, to
share their vision for new
futures and enter into
discussions they might not
usually engage in.
Community festivals work best

when they are a result of a series of
culturally based practices and
decisions.
> Social change is not just

about dealing directly with
issues. Its much more than
that, and includes a
communitys ability to
understand multiple contexts
and the skills, resources, needs
and opportunities available to
engage with them. Through
meaningful, active
participation, festivals support
people to network, learn and
share skills, and can assist
those involved to learn
processes integral to the

betterment of their community
including facilitating
discussion, encouraging
expression and planning
action. Festivals, where
facilitated with this in mind,
help communities become
more resilient.
> Often, particularly in the area

of participatory arts and
community organising, the
government is unaware or at
least not as proactive as it
could be in working with
creative approaches to gain
public input to their decision
making. Cultural means of
empowering local
communities sometimes does
not fit as neatly into the
compartmentalised chambers
of government, where each
department often tends to
conduct its own formal
engagement to source
community perspectives and
ideas toward making political
decisions. Members of the
production team can greatly
enhance opportunities for
influencing formal decision
making processes by
maintaining both an
understanding of and
connection to government
planning and policy processes
and by designing processes at
the festival to feed directly into
this decision making. The
outcomes of this, often more
importantly, can actively
support local grass roots
communityorganising.
Collaborating with someone
from the community who is
abreast of formal planning
processes and contextual
information assists in not
overloading the production
team.
> Community festivals work

best when they are a result of a
series of culturally based
practices and decisions. Trying
to turn a festival into a
workshop, by incorporating
inappropriate or excessively
formal activities that feed into
local decision making or
community organising needs
will, most likely, only decrease
patronage and support;
particularly for those already
on the fringe of participating
(like young people). Festivals
VALUES
need to be fun, and work best

where people can learn to
instinctively and naturally
share and express, rather than
feeling cajoled through a
process. There is also much
richness in just creating a
space for dialogue between
community members, even
where capturing the outcomes
of such interaction can be
difficult or impossible.
> Maximising local funding
support, through fundraising,
local business and other

creative means, increases the
way the festival becomes
something distinctly local, and
the way people become
involved and attached to its
concept, meaning and
importance. It provides an
accountable basis for ensuring
that the festival not only
remains about that
community, but also urges
producers to facilitate dialogue
with local people about its
purpose, facilitation and

proposed outcomes. Local
fundraising also acts as an
additional means of
promotion.
FACT FILE
Steph Vajda is a self described cultural empowerment facilitator. With fifteen
years experience in program and project design and management, community
arts facilitation, event and festival production, public participation facilitation
and community activism. Hes also an artist and a musician, and has co-authored
three books. He spends spare time playing pickup basketball and plotting the
downfall of neoliberalism/capitalism, sometimes simultaneously. Check out
Stephs blog at www.darkyvajda.wordpress.com or email him at
steph@speakoutevents.org if you are interested in receiving the final outcomes
of the research.
mailout dodgy clutch 28
SOUTH AFRICA
Elephant builds
amphitheatre!
(in a roundabout kind of way)
SOUTH AFRICA
Image courtesy of Dodgy Clutch
You might wonder why the

ruins of a classical Greek
amphitheatre appear to be
situated on a river bank deep in
rural South Africa. Get closer
and youll discover these
curved terraces of stone
seating are not ancient but
newly built. Soon they will be
encased in a conical structure
resembling a rondavel, the
traditional circular dwellinghouse of the Xhosa people.
This eye-catching structure will
be known as the Archie Sibeko
Roundhouse. The juxtaposition
of European and African styles
is not only architectural, but
cultural. And its not just about
the past, but the future of the
people in this part of the
Eastern Cape and in North East
England, too.
It was in the North East that

Archie met Ozzie. Archie Sibeko
is a former South African Trade
Union Leader and ANC
freedom fighter. Better known
by his nom de guerre, Zola, he
retired with his wife Dr. Joyce
Leeson to Tynemouth. This
Victorian seaside town is also
home to Ozzie Riley and Elaine
Beard of the Dodgy Clutch
Theatre Company.
Their show Elephant has been
touring almost continuously in
the UK, South Africa and North
America since 2006. It mixes
contemporary and traditional
African dance, music, song and
storytelling in a high energy
style which had impressed
them on an earlier visit to
South Africas National Arts
Festival in Grahamstown.
Elephant grew from a
collaboration with artists they
met there.
Talent
We found the Eastern Cape to
be one of the most creative
places we have worked, says
Ozzie. It has a rich and deeply
rooted popular culture living
side by side with a modern
industrial society. Theres a
reservoir of raw talent there. To
help develop it would be a
legacy of the success of
Elephant.
Zola advised them to look in
the countryside, in particular
the Tyhume Valley where he
grew up. He says: The children
love singing, dancing and
acting and quickly pick up new
skills, but they need help. Ive
always said that as far as arts
and culture are concerned, the
people of South Africa are like
dry grass: given a spark, they
will catch fire.
The opportunity came with
funding by the Eastern Cape
Ministry of Culture for a
programme of events,
residential courses and
exchanges to engage teachers,
children and parents linking
Tyneside and Tyhume-side.
Dodgy Clutch worked with
Ive always
said that as far
as arts and
culture are
concerned, the
people of South
Africa are like
dry grass: given
a spark, they
will catch fire.
SOUTH AFRICA
Apartheid
robbed them
of a sense of
purpose. The
amphitheatre
can help
them get
back their
cultural roots,
develop selfesteem,
recognise the
natural talent
they take for
granted.
Tyhume schools and teachers on

themes from Elephant
captivity, freedom and
redemption. The result was a
performance which the schools
took to an arts festival at
Hogsback, a mountain resort
nearby. It took the sophisticated
audience by storm.
Peter Buchan, Chief Executive of
Ryder Architecture in Newcastle,
was out there too, as a member
of the Dodgy Clutch advisory
board. I wasnt thinking in
terms of buildings, he recalls,
but as I went with Ozzie around
different villages the notion of
amphitheatres arose in our
minds. We reached a place
called Gqumahashe and I
thought this is the one spot. It
looks along the bend in the river
with a distant view of hills - a
magical sort of place.
Zola confirmed this was indeed a
sacred spot. Students from Fort
Hare University, two miles away
at Alice, cross the Tyhume River
as part of their graduation
ritual. But why build a theatre in
a village of straggling
corrugated iron and breeze
block huts whose only buildings
of substance are the primary
and secondary schools?
Regeneration
Children are educated. Theyre
sent out in smart uniforms by
mothers who do the washing in
a bucket outside the hut,
observes Peter Buchan. But
when they leave school theres
nothing. There are relatively few
men around. Those that can, go
away to towns to work.
Apartheid robbed them of a
sense of purpose. The
amphitheatre can help them get
back their cultural roots,
develop self-esteem, recognise
the natural talent they take for
granted.
The vision is that Roundhouse
will provide a focus to bring the
innately talented people of the
area together with creative
practitioners and communities
from elsewhere in South Africa
and beyond. It will not only
generate memorable
performances, but income from

people attending workshops and
shows. An infrastructure of
hospitality will evolve creating a
symbiosis between Tyhume and
established tourist destinations
nearby.
The model for culture becoming
a force for regeneration is
Gateshead, as Peter and Ozzie
know from first-hand
involvement. In the 1980s the
town was on its knees following
the decline of heavy industry,
mining and shipbuilding on
Tyneside. The vacuum is now
filled by the Sage Gateshead, the
Gateshead Millennium Bridge,
Baltic Centre for Contemporary
Art and the Angel of the North.
Together they have given a
global image to a place few
could have previously pictured,
attracting tourism, conferences
and new business and creating
employment in the wider region.
Design
Will the Roundhouse also be
iconic in its own way? The
rondavel design by Ryder has a
beautiful logic. Inside, the

sense of space will be breathtaking. The all-wood canopy is
self-supporting with no central
pillars. This gives an audience
seated around three -quarters
of the stage area an
uninterrupted view. On the
fourth side the roof peels away
to reveal the natural backdrop
of the river valley and distant
hills. The slats of the canopy
allow natural ventilation and
light into the theatre and
deflect rain water away.
The concept is simple.
Achieving it has thrown up
challenges. But the unexpected
is all part of the big idea. The
site became a training ground
for people from Ryder and
Cundall to get involved with
architectural and building
basics once construction
started in 2009.
They were confronted with the
on-site consequences of
decisions taken in front of a
computer screen, says Peter
Buchan, what its like to have
to drill through a half inch steel
base plate, to stand in the mud
trying to mould villagers into a
construction workforce. Its a
humbling experience thats
never going to leave them.
Build
It allows interaction with the
community and other
members of the design team,
adds Jonathan Hayes, a
structural engineer at Cundall.
With everyone sharing a
common passion to deliver a
truly sustainable
solution. This dictates that
building materials, techniques
and workforce should be
sourced locally. Hence the
seating tiers were specified to
be composed of gabion
baskets, wire mesh cages filled
with stones from the
neighbourhood. Local trees

were earmarked for the
support beams. Once up and
running the building is
designed to require minimal
maintenance.
Sustainability is fine in
principle, but can be
problematic in practice, as
Vicky Riley of Dodgy Clutch
discovered when she went out
in 2010 to get the seating
finished, ready for the roof to
be built. There were not nearly
enough stones lying around to
fill 207 gabion baskets hungry
for 380 tonnes of material.
Local builder John Schenck had
the answer. Son of a trading
post family, water ski
champion and native Xhosa
speaker, he located a supply
from a disused quarry.
Confronted earlier with how to
cut 10 tonnes of timber the
right size for the main frame,
he improvised a rotary saw. It
was he who hired a team of
villagers as a workforce. It was
Vicky - covered in building site
dust - who treated them to
lunch of mutton, pork or
chicken stew each Friday
payday at the Super Spa store
in Alice.
Benefit
The children of the primary
school in whose grounds the
amphitheatre will nest cant
wait for it to be finished.
Literally. They are already using
the 200 square metre stage
area for dance, song and
improvisation. When this is
capped by the curving wooden
canopy, the Roundhouse will
belong to the Eastern Cape
Regional Government. It will
become an outdoor classroom,
community arts centre and
venue for traditional
gatherings and civic events.
Here visiting artists and Dodgy
Clutch will help develop local

talents as well as deriving
stimulus for their own work.
As its magnetic field radiates
outwards, the Roundhouse will
become a base for initiating
and incubating cultural
projects regional, national
and transnational - financed
by grants, sponsorship and
sales. South African urbanbased performing arts
companies will hold residences
here, enriching and drawing
from rural culture. Fort Hare
University sees the potential
value of the Roundhouse as an
outreach centre for studying
indigenous music and dance.
North East England dance,
drama and folk companies will
find a unique platform on
which to build productions
infused with the energy and
originality of Xhosa culture.
The word amphitheatre is
derived from the Greek
meaning theatre from both
sides. The Archie Sibeko
Roundhouse represents more
than the coming together of
audiences around a stage. It
will become the catalyst for
creative partnerships from two
hemispheres and cultures of
the kind which has already
born magnificent fruit.
In this way we have already
created an international hit
with Elephant, says Ozzie
Riley. The amphitheatre will
provide a centre for further
collaboration and more
Elephants to be nurtured.
David Williams
www.dodgyclutch.com
SOUTH AFRICA
The
amphitheatre
will provide a
centre for
further
collaboration
and more
Elephants to
be nurtured.
mailout cartwheel arts 32
PARTNERSHIPS
Art For Wellbeing and

Enterprise
When it works, an arts company, collaborating with an organisation with social
objectives, can achieve amazing results. Robert Howell feeds back on a recent
celebration of a Cartwheel Arts project
The first person I met at the
celebration and development
event for Art For Wellbeing and
Enterprise, was Eileen. She
thrust a poster in my hand for a
spring fayre she was organising
telling me to put it in my car
window whenever I parked.
Thats enterprise for you isnt
it? she proclaimed to all who
could hear.
Above, below
and opposite:
participants of
the Cartwheel
workshops
show their work
Cartwheel Arts have been

working with Bubble Enterprises
from Manchester. They
successfully tendered for a
project from Wigan Council
through the Working
Neighbourhoods Fund. Bubbles
objective is to work with
vulnerable people, primarily
with mental health problems in
all their guises, with a view to
supporting them in developing
enterprising projects or
entrepreneurial goals. I asked

Peter Thompson from Bubble
Enterprises why they wanted to
engage with arts activity. He
explained that if you want to
support people who are isolated,
depressed, or trapped then you
need, an activity that
stimulates the brain. An arts
project clearly fitted the bill.
Cartwheel organised four
separate courses in four venues
across the Wigan and Leigh area.
Building on a successful arts and
health project theyd run in their
home town of Rochdale, two of
the courses were fine art based,
one in painting and one in
drawing. The other two were
more craft-based and
collaborative: paper lanterns
and mosaic making. Bubble ran
four enterprise engagement

courses alongside this.
The courses were advertised and
the recruitment of staff began. I
asked a number of people how
theyd found out about it. They
had seen information in the
local paper, the doctors waiting
room or had a leaflet through
the door. Some people who were
already known to Bubble had
been approached directly. One
woman overheard someone
talking about the mosaic
workshops whilst shopping in
the market. Shed always
enjoyed doing craft at home
such as making cards and glass
painting and thought mosaic
sounded fun. She plucked up the
courage and asked the complete
stranger for more information.
I wanted to know what it felt like

for the participants, turning up
for the first time. Did they know
anyone? Was it a bit daunting?
They all commented on how
welcome Peter and Rick, (from
Cartwheel), had made them, so
any nervousness was soon
forgotten. Julie who hadnt left
the house for months since an
operation on her wrist was
persuaded to go by her partner,
she said : I only live next door
but one to the community
centre. She got there but was
back home within 15 minutes.
Peter called and was so nice and
welcoming that she went back.
Shes not looked back since. I
wouldnt be here without this
course she said, I wouldnt
leave the house. Now Ive been
to Devon. Shes become the
poster girl for the project and
has set up her own project doing
gardening and helping people
grow their own vegetables. Shes
also leading on the development
of a community garden on the
site of two recently demolished
houses.
Everyone seems to have really
enjoyed the process. In addition
to learning new skills theyve all
made new friends. Julie
described it as like having an
extra family. Janet has been a
full time carer for her
housebound mother for years
sacrificing her own social life.
Shes made lots of new friends
and really got her confidence
back. Julia said: Doing
something creative really does
something for you.
The results are excellent. The
participants and the
practitioners have really valued
the product as well as the
process. The work was
beautifully presented and did all
concerned proud. The lantern
making was the most
collaborative and it was telling
looking at making table tops,

Im not quite ready for
swimming pools. Julie is well on
the way to making a success of
her gardening, not directly
connected to the painting
workshop that shes done but
she believes that it was a vital
step on her journey. Others are
looking for volunteering
opportunities or looking for
other courses/workshops to
attend. Diane said that it had
renewed her resolve to get back
into floristry as soon as her little
girl was old enough to go to
nursery.
that this group was best

represented on the day. I asked
Eileen if shed enjoyed working
in a group or if shed rather have
made her own lantern. Shed
worked on a giant crocodile and
told me with pride that shed
made its toes and the ridges on
its spine. She said: It was like
an itch, I just couldnt stop. She
told me how she was really ill for
a large duration of the course
but only missed one week. She
dragged herself there. She could
see that the quality of work was
improving week by week.
In hindsight Rick regrets that
the arts projects werent more
closely linked to the objective of
enterprise. The drawings and
paintings werent set up to be
sell-able items for example. That
said the project has given people
thoughts and made them think
about it. Pai, who was at the
event despite becoming a
grandmother earlier in the day,
is thinking hard about how to
apply her new skills to a
commercial endeavour. Shes
thinking about making
lampshades with the techniques
that shes picked up from the
lantern making. Sheila, who did
the mosaic workshops, is
When setting up the project Rick

was advised against holding the
workshops in the communities
in favour of town centre
locations and was strongly
warned off some of the
community centres, such as the
one that the lantern workshops
took place. Hes really glad that
they stuck to their guns.
mailout cartwheel arts 33
PARTNERSHIPS
I wouldnt
be here
without this
course I
wouldnt
leave the
house. Now
Ive been to
Devon.
I searched for a criticism. I

asked all the participants what
they thought would have made
the project better? Diane
recommended a crche but
added that it wasnt a problem
for her as her little girl was made
so welcome.
Some courses suffered drop out
but when working with people
with degrees of mental health
issues thats not surprising.
Following this project an arts
group has emerged with
members from several of the
arts courses. Initially this will be
self-funding and reliant on
voluntary tutors with the aim of
securing funding.
Bubble are continuing to
support a network of
entrepreneurs in Wigan for at
least the next 6 months.
www.cartwheelarts.org.uk
Doing
something
creative
really does
something
for you.
mailout CAN 34
PARTNERSHIPS
Refugees take to
real stages
Katherine Rogers from CAN explores the benefits of partnership
between community arts and mainstream venues
The cultural
landscape of
Britain is
changing, to
one that CAN
believes is
ultimately
more rich and
exciting.
You might be excused for

thinking that refugee arts is on
the margins of arts provision,
confined to community
centres, limited to Refugee
Week and largely hidden from
mainstream society. Through
its Exodus programme,
Community Arts North West
(CAN) is determined to redirect some of the limelight to
Britains newest communities,
taking their incredible stories
and talent into mainstream
venues to do so.
Exodus is a programme of
participatory cultural
production working with
refugees and host communities
across Manchester and Greater
Manchester spanning
traditional and contemporary
art forms. The programme has
been going since 2005, and
runs 20 participatory arts
projects a year, an outdoor
festival, live music events and a
shorts film festival. Last year,
Exodus engaged with around
481 participants reaching
audiences in excess of
11,000.
Most of CANs work is delivered
in partnership with a range of
stakeholders; from mainstream
venues through to local artists,
independent arts
organisations, refugee
community organisations
amongst others.
Working with mainstream
venues certainly presents its
challenges such as the cost of
hiring space which often used
to be provided as in kind
support, or the difficulties of
producing copy that meets
everyones exacting criteria.
However, the benefits are also
undeniable. Amongst them, the
ability to reach mainstream
audiences is crucial for
programmes such as Exodus,
which seek to raise awareness
about the issues faced by
refugees and asylum seekers.
Exodus Onstage, a refugee
theatre festival produced by
CAN during November 2010, is
a good example of a successful
partnership between
mainstream venues,
independent producers, artists
and others. The festival
featured 12 productions, 10 of
which were newly created for
the season and showcased at
some of Greater Manchesters
most renowned venues
including The Lowry, Royal
Exchange Theatre and Contact.
Two of the Onstage
productions hot-footed it down

to London having initially
played at The Lowry in Salford
including How I Became an
Asylum Seeker, supported by
the Actress Juliet Stevenson,
which played at the Riverside
Studios to a standing ovation.
Many of the performances sold
out or played to full audiences,
in spite of the recession blues,
showing local audiences
appetite for theatre exploring
human rights and related
issues. Audience feedback
reflected the power of the
productions in communicating
experiences that are often
overlooked or misrepresented.
In addition to reaching
different audiences, working
with mainstream venues
enabled CAN to achieve
positive profile for Exodus
Onstage including 45 pieces in
local newspapers, online
articles, radio features, enewsletters and national
coverage in The Guardian.
Given the negative press
usually associated with asylum,
this outcome is not
insignificant.
Venues benefited from being
part of a diverse programme
FACTFILE
If youre interested in
finding out more about
arts projects working
with refugees, the
Platforma website is a
great place to start.
www.platforma.org.uk
Platforma arts and
refugee network is about
supporting, developing
and mainstreaming
refugee related arts.
Its aim is to bring
together groups and
artists of any
background or political
status (e.g. refugees and
non-refugees), whose
work examines the
varied experiences of
refugees both before and
after they arrived and
settled in their host
Rani Moorthy - Hymns for Drowning performance
country.
spanning immersive theatre, abstract

theatre, devised work, a theatre
installation, food and live performance
project plus a hip hop youth theatre
production, whose content was largely
determined by grassroots communities.
The cultural landscape of Britain is
changing, to one that CAN believes is

ultimately more rich and exciting. We
are proud to be working with partners
that embrace that change.
Katherine Rogers
Katherine@can.uk.com
www.can.uk.com
We also hope that the

quality and diversity of
the work that will be
presented within the
Platforma project in the
next few years will
encourage new
audiences to relate more
closely and empathically
to the experiences of
refugees.
To learn about a whole
range of networks
connected to and
connecting participatory
arts go to:
www.mailout.co/
information/networks/
mailout CAN 35
PARTNERSHIPS
mailout lyrics 36
PARTNERSHIPS
LETS GET LYRICAL:

A MONTH DEVOTED TO THE HUMBLE
AND MAGNIFICENT SONG LYRIC
Let's Get Lyrical was a month-long celebration of song lyrics
which took place this February with a packed programme of live,
lyric-inspired events. The festival saw 86 special lyrics-based
events across Edinburgh and Glasgow involving 69 partner
organisations.
Theres still
time to share
the story
about the
lyrics you
love, and
become a
part of this
growing
online
community.
The one-off February

campaign, created and run by
Edinburgh UNESCO City of
Literature in partnership with
Glasgow UNESCO City of Music
marked the launch of the Lets
Get Lyrical website:
www.letsgetlyrical.com
Celebrity lyric lovers and
members of the public have
been sharing their stories
about lyrics that mean the
most to them and why are so
special.
The web site has become the
place for people to talk about
song lyrics and is packed with
audio interviews, podcasts,
recommended reads, features
and a rich array of stories
about the lyrics and
songwriters people love.
During the month of February
there were over 30,000 visits
and 134,000 page views on the
site, with more than 1500
Twitter followers and many
more people contributing via
the #GetLyrical hashtag.
Theres still time to share the
story about the lyrics you love,
Ian Rankin and Director of City of Literature, Ali Bowden.
and become a part of this

growing online community.
One aspiring songwriter, Tom
McEwan, has won the Let's Get
Lyrical competition and the
opportunity to get his lyric
jammed in private with
Glasgow indie sensation band
Zoey Van Goey, which have just
launched their second album,
Propellers versus Wings, to
critical acclaim.
mailout lyrics 37
PARTNERSHIPS
The campaigns been a

success simply the best!
with 100s of stories submitted
and Dylan topping the list for
most popular lyricists. A big
thank you to all our partner
organisations and the funders
who made it all possible.
Ali Bowden,
Director, City of Literature.
FACTFILE
Heres a small selection of submissions to Lets
Get Lyrical, but the best place to read all about the
campaign is on www.letsgetlyrical.com
Morrissey raised the songwriting bar so high that for a

quarter century now few have
been able to match him, even
with a plagiarists pole vault.
The Smiths album The Queen
Is Dead contains some of his
finest wordplay.
Kenny Anderson
(King Creosote)
My ultimate lyric...comes
from Clive James, when he
was first collaborating with
Pete Atkin. Its from a song
called Screen Freak, about
somebody obsessed with
movies. He writes about
seeing Atlantis, Atlanta up in
flames and plywood cities
meeting their doom.
Perfection.
Iain Banks
I love the lyrics to Kung Fu

Fighting. I think a lot of the
success of the song lies on
that one line: In fact it was a
little bit frightening. Its
funny, colloquial and a great
example of a lyrical hook.
Aidan Moffat
I think my dads Big River is

one of the most eloquent
pieces of American poetry
ever written. It inspires me he
had such an intuitive and
refined sense of narrative and
language, that he created a
cinematic landscape.
Roseanne Cash
Edinburgh was designated

the first UNESCO City of
Literature in late 2004 and as
a result the Edinburgh
UNESCO City of Literature
Trust charity was formed to
promote reading in
Edinburgh, encourage
involvement with Scotlands
literature and nurture
literary partnerships around
the world.
Glasgow was awarded the
status of a Creative City by
UNESCO in 2008. One of
only four music cities
worldwide, this is in
recognition of the status of
Glasgows success in the
music industry and the
success of the policy of the
City to bring music to its
citizens. Its aim is to
promote excellence across
all music forms, stimulate
interest in musical education
and improve access to music
for all ages and social and
ethnic backgrounds.
For more information, go to
www.glasgowcityofmusic.com
and
www.cityofliterature.com
mailout advert 38
PARTNERSHIPS
When was the last time you heard a story about

participatory arts in the national news? How often is a
participatory arts spokesperson quoted in the press or
heard on the radio?
Over a quarter of funded arts companies are
participatory yet our voice is not being heard.
This May mailout is launching a new

subscription service. For an annual fee
of 150 we will contact all subscribers,
on a weekly basis, in search of good
news stories. Using the skills of our
experienced journalistic team we will
produce a weekly digest of outwardfacing information of interest to the
public and the national press. The digest
will contain a brief introduction to all
the latest participatory news with your
contact details for further information.
Initially we propose to limit our list to
50 subscribers so that we can ensure
that your organisation gets the best
deal.
Our mission is to make participatory
arts the first point of call next time there
is a big arts funding story and for
ArtsWorkWithPeople to become the
national press office for participatory
arts.
Participatory arts are the unsung
backbone of the arts world. The national
press, policy makers and even a
significant part of the arts community
are unaware of its value and give it little
thought.
If there is a big story about the arts or
arts funding the national press
focuses almost exclusively on the major
funded institutions. Leading the public -
and a lot of people in the arts

community - to have a distorted view of
the funded arts sector.
Most participatory arts companies are
relatively small and are too busy
delivering to have time to make their
voices heard. We want your
organisation to be noticed and receive
the recognition and attention it
deserves.
Claire Williams, our principal journalist,
will be leading this service and is happy
to answer any questions you may have.
She said: This is a really exciting
opportunity for companies out there
who dont have the time or the contacts
to promote the really valuable work that
theyre doing. We hope, over time, to
help elevate participatory arts from
poor relation to recognised drivers of
transformational creative activity.
To express your
interest in subscribing
or for further
information contact
Claire:
t: 01254 674777
e: hello@mailout.co
Funding
Calouste Gulbenkian
Foundation Strategic Aims 2011
UK
The Calouste Gulbenkian
Foundation is based in
Portugal and the UK with a
special interest in supporting
those who are most
disadvantaged; with an
emphasis on maximising the
beneficial impact of the
Foundations work through
encouraging cross-border
exchanges of lessons and
experiences.
submitted at any time.

www.gulbenkian.org.uk
Grants of between 10,000 and

25,000 are available to not for
profit organisations to support
a small number of innovative
projects that help improve
people's perception of each
other by providing
opportunities for interaction
through culture and between
cultures; assist the most
disadvantaged in society to
fulfil their potential by building
connections and developing
opportunities; and help in the
development of a society
which benefits from a more
sustainable relationship with
the natural world and
understands the value of its
resources. Applications can be
The fund offers grants of up to

5,000 through their small
grants scheme and grants of
over 5,000 through their large
grants scheme. Every year, the
Trust makes about 50 grants
through its small grants
programme and around 5
awards through its large grants
programme. Closing date 31st
May 2011. In addition, the Trust
runs a Summer Playscheme
Grants Programme. This is
open to charities with an
income not exceeding
100,000 a year. Closing date
for Summer Play-schemes is
1st April 2011.
www.woodwardcharitabletrust.
org
Woodward Charitable Trust

(UK)
The Woodward Charitable
Trust, is inviting applications
from UK charities working with
or in the areas of; social and
ethnic minority groups;
prisoners and ex-offenders;
homelessness; violence and
abuse; arts outreach; disability;
and the environment.
Northern Rock Foundation

Announces Future Funding
(North East England and
Cumbria)
Northern Rock plc have
confirmed that funding will be
provided to the Foundation at a
level of 1% of its pre-tax profits,
this will be a two year
agreement starting from now.
The Foundation gives grants to
organisations which help
people who are vulnerable,
disadvantaged, homeless,
living in poverty or are victims
of crime or discrimination. The
level of annual funding will be
radically reduced compared to
previous years and the
Foundations scale and range
of work will reduce and change
to reflect this.
www.northernrockfoundation.
org
Gatwick Airport Community

Trust
For those mailout readers
affected by operations at
Gatwick Airport which covers
parts of Surrey, West Sussex,
East Sussex and Kent. The Trust
is keen to support projects
which contribute to the
development of young people;
mailout funding 39
FUNDING
mailout funding 40
FUNDING
art projects including amateur
drama, music, art; sporting
facilities; environment
improvement and
conservation; improvements to
community facilities such as
village halls; support for the
disabled; support for the
elderly; encouragement of
additional volunteering or
giving in the area. Grants are of
between 250 and 5,000, in
some occasion larger grants
may be considered.
www.gatwickairportcommunit
ytrust.org
Funding for Childrens Summer

Playschemes (UK)
The LankellyChase Foundation
is seeking applications from
registered charities to support
summer playschemes for
children between the ages of 5
17 years. Preference is given
to small local playschemes
lasting 4 - 6 weeks, and groups
planning special activities for
youngsters who are
disadvantaged. In 2011 the
Foundation will be supporting
specific activities for children
and young people living in
refuges; for families escaping
domestic violence; or for
young carers. The Foundation
will be making approximately
120 grants of around 500, to
organisations in England,
Wales, Scotland and Northern
Ireland. Preference will be
given to applications from
organisations affiliated to a
relevant nationally recognised
body and adhering to national
standards of practice.
Closing date is 13th May 2011.
www.lankellychase.org.uk
Trusthouse Charitable
Foundation (UK)
The Foundation has announced
that funding is available to
local and national charities or
not-for-profit organisations
that address rural and urban
deprivation. They are
interested in helping
established projects which
work in the fields of:
Community Support; Arts,
Education & Heritage;
Disability & Health Care.
There are three grants scheme:
Large Grant Scheme between
10,000 and 30,000 to cover
capital costs; Small Grant
Scheme between 5,001 and
9,999 to cover capital and
revenue costs and a Fast Track
Scheme with grants of up to
5,000 to cover capital and
revenue costs.
The Grants Committee meets
quarterly to consider
applications. The deadlines for
submitting applications are
generally 2 months before the
date of a meeting.
www.trusthousecharitablefoun
dation.org.uk
Hilton in the Community

Foundation Grants (UK)
Organisations that work with
young people have the
opportunity to apply for
grants. Organisations such as
charities and other not for
profit organisations can apply
for grants ranging from a few
hundred pounds up to 30,000
per year for up to 2 years that
meet one of the Foundation's
chosen areas of focus. These
are: disabled children; children
in hospital; homelessness and
life-limited children in
hospices. Closing date is 3rd
May 2011.
www.hilton-foundation.org.uk
Funding for Disabled Artists

(UK)
Arts Council England has
announced that the next
deadline for applications under
its "Unlimited Commissions"
scheme is 18th April 2011. The

scheme which is supported by
London 2012, the UK Arts
Councils and the British Council
aims to commission new work
that is artistically led by
disabled artists and celebrate
the London 2012 Olympic and
Paralympic Games. Grants of
between 25,000 and 50,000
are available to disabled and
Deaf artists, and disabled and
Deaf-led arts organisations,
who wish to develop their work,
strengthen their artistic
practice, challenge perceptions
and forge new partnerships
with presenting venues and
events.
www.artscouncil.org.uk/
funding/unlimited/
BBC Children in Need Grants

Scheme (UK)
This well established source of
funding runs two programmes;
the Small Grants Programme
of 10,000 or less for up to
three years and the Main
Grants Programme over
10,000 per year for up to three
years. BBC Children in Need
can only fund projects that
focus on the differences made
(outcomes) to the lives of
disadvantaged children and
young people. Funding is
available to not-for-profit
organisations working with
disadvantaged children and
young people 18 years and
under.
The next deadline is 15th April
2011.
www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey
clipout
mailouts cut out and keep guide to good practice
Clipout is the name for our growing toolkit of good practice

for participatory arts. This edition focuses on
communication, Alison Morris from Media Trust gives us
some helpful advice.
Arts organisations cant communicate?

Arts organisations facing funding
cuts at a local and a national level
have been told its their own
fault. Ed Vaizey suggests that had
better communication with local
authorities been on-going for
longer, building a deeper
understanding of the arts
organisations and the authorities
priorities, arts organisations would
not be in the position they now
find themselves in. The Royal
Society for the Encouragement of
Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce
(RSA) echoes the sentiment,
suggesting that arts organisations
have been unable to make a
convincing case for public support,
and that many in the sector will
not recognise that the case even
needs to be made.
The biggest question these
arguments throw up is so what
now? While to an extent the recent
arguments about arts
organisations and their
communications do make some
valid points, what can you do now
to turn your situation round?
We dont believe arts organisations
should be singled out in this way
at Media Trust, we work with the
whole charity, community,
voluntary and social enterprise

sector, and we spend a lot of time
getting to know our audiences and
what they need.
We published some research last
year on the marketing and
communications needs of charities
and found that there was a lack of
management and stakeholder
investment and involvement in
communications, which impacts
on the ability of charities to plan
communications strategically
rather than keep going tactically.
Second, we found most
organisations are online but know
they arent making the most of
digital potential. When support was
sought, non-profits prefer help
from within the sector that shares
their values. Most importantly,
charities really want to raise their
communications game.
Thats where we come in Media
Trust is a national communications
charity, working with the media,
marketing and communications
industries to help charities find
their voice and make it heard. We
offer training, free resources,
practical support from volunteer
mentors and advisers as well as
film-making services for charities
to support their desire to improve

their marketing and
communications and be heard.
Arts organisations in many ways
are luckier than many charities in
their communications desirable
products or services, ticketed
venues providing a database full of
intelligence about your audiences,
dedicated and passionate staff and
engaged customers. However, the
debate about the instrumental
value of the arts can sometimes
prevent us from communicating
the messages that key stakeholders
need to hear in the terms they
understand. You shouldnt be
exasperated if asked to show your
value for money understand
where the request comes from and
whats really being asked. Make
your case in their language, not
yours.
Last summer as part of our regular
events programme, we ran a series
of breakfast briefings on
campaigning. Expert panellists
including MPs, Councillors, thinktanks and seasoned campaigning
charities gave key communications
for persuasion tips. See over the
page for our top 5:
mailout clipout 41
CLIPOUT
mailout clipout 42
CLIPOUT
clipout
1) Do pick up the phone, get out
there and get to know the
important people in your local
authority, the officers and
directors as well as the
Councillors, portfolio holders,
and your local MP, as well as
the people who talk to and
influence them. Get yourself,
your senior management team
and your Trustees into peoples
diaries. Have a couple of talking
points and one ask for your
meeting. Know why your
service is key to your
community. What is the one
thing you want, and how might
it work?
2) Do spend time on your
digital communications your
website needs to be full of clear
information, stories and
pictures of how you meet local
needs. Make sure youve
identified and invested time in
the social networks that speak
to your audiences including
local decision-makers. Dont
fall for me too marketing
traps if its not right for your
audience you dont need it,
even if it is free to use. Dont
substitute twitter for a regular
news-filled email or two keep
it personal and make sure the
news is interesting to people
outside your management
team.
3) Dont forget what a useful
tool your local papers and
radio stations can be. If youre
visible to local people who
arent yet on your mailing list
youre more likely to find
support at times like this.
Youre creating background
noise about your organisation
which will make it harder for
people to take a decision to defund you. Its not too late to

start building relationships.
4) Do look at your
communications functions
strategically - Everyones a
fundraiser or marketer now,
and if theyre not converts
already, get management and
Board buy-in to the
importance of their
communications. Think about
how you could benefit from
support from mentors or low
cost training. Dont be afraid to
pick up the phone and talk
about your communications
needs we can point you
towards free and paid-for
services, find you or your Board
a mentor, or help you make
your case to managers.
5) Finally, the golden rule of
communications, internal,
external, day-to-day and
strategic, never lose sight of
what you want people to do.
Focus, and ask them directly.
Alison Morris is Communications

Development Manager at Media
Trust. With a background in arts
marketing, an abiding passion for
the arts and a geeky obsession with
marketing and mining data to
improve planning and
performance, she feels strongly
that communications is part of the
answer to any problem.
Why not visit the website,
www.mediatrust.org, to find
comms training events, mentors
and advisers, filmmaking services
and free resources, to help you
improve your communication.

Mailout Magazine April May 3 2011

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April / May 2011

Cuts and investment - A bigger perspective

Letter from the editors

Elephant builds amphitheatre!

VALUES - A MAILOUT FOCUS

Valuing participatory arts

The Five Minute Poet

What do we value in participatory arts?

Talking Through The Arts

Social change and celebration

PARTNERSHIPS - A MAILOUT FOCUS

Main photo Quilt: Kate Ransohoff

Arts Council Funding

Thumbnail Hijinx Theatre

mailout is the national magazine

Art for Wellbeing and Enterprise

Refugees take centre stage

mailout time for revolution 3

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

Wither a cultural revolution?

Chatting with a University

We are going through a

FIVE MINUTE POET

The Five Minute Poet

Follow Alisons blog at:

One of the first writing classes I

flummoxed. He or she cannot

The Five Minute Poet is Alison White,

Being Heathcliffs Boot

Rescue Fantasy: non-profits

saved by significant increases

of the new firm and the new

the gain of progress is unlikely to be

It described the propensity for

overbuilt infrastructure. Such

Read more at: www.artsjournal.com/

mailout sector transformation 5

TALKING THROUGH THE ARTS

mailout cuts and investment 6

ARTS COUNCIL FUNDING

As English participatory arts

Image: Hijinx Theatre

The Welsh Arts Council has

the first part of its

mailout cuts and investment 7

ARTS COUNCIL FUNDING

Cuts and investment:

organisations will stare jealously

We know that vibrant and

Theyre about the everyday

its about change, authorship

mailout cuts and investment 8

ARTS COUNCIL FUNDING

The review doesnt pull its

CARAD, (Community Arts

Dawns i Bawb and Dawns Tan

We were told that our tour was

Of the five companies that

The Arts Council of Northern

Although participation is mentioned in one of

Develop a National Youth Arts strategy for

There is an emphasis on mass participation

mailout cuts and investment 9

we were cut by such a huge