“I’m glad the money I raised is supporting such wonderful projects. Create also made the fundraising process very easy.”
Richard Crowther
On Sunday 30 July 2017, 13 #TeamCreate riders completed a gruelling event. This was the second year we had the privilege of taking part in the capital’s ultimate cycling challenge: Prudential RideLondon–Surrey 100.
Our riders not only took on the 100 mile loop between London and Surrey but also worked with the same drive to meet their fundraising challenge. They have already collectively raised £15,377, with funds continuing to pour in, which will help us empower even more lives through the creative arts over the coming months.
One of our fundraising heroes is Richard Crowther, Asset Manager at British Land. Create’s longest-standing corporate partner, the company funded our first ever project – Shake an Egg – in 2003, when Create was just eight days old. We caught up with Richard the day after the race to see how his legs were doing and why he chose to take part.
“It is such a great experience to breathe in the fresh air and see that many cyclists on car-free roads. It’s nice not to have to worry about competing with vehicles.
“I think a couple of the hills were harder than I thought they’d be, especially Leith Hill which was certainly the most challenging stretch. The road compressed like a funnel. There were a lot of people shouting ‘keep going, keep going!’ and if you stopped and anyone was in front or behind you then it had a knock on effect. You have to get in a line and not dismount. I was lucky that I managed to keep in that line and reach the top. That and cycling down towards Buckingham Palace were definite highlights. It really made me feel like I’d done it.
“After I crossed the finish line I thought I’d be in pain but I felt surprisingly okay. I was certainly feeling tired but after some jelly babies and a little bit of fruit I started getting back to normal. Being more of a tennis player than a cyclist I’ve got to be thankful for having finished it and that it was a nice day. It was a great event.
“I got to know Create through British Land, who introduced me to the charity’s inspiring work when I was considering taking on the challenge. It is a very important cause and I am glad the money I fundraised is supporting such wonderful projects. Create also made the fundraising process very easy. I was given all the necessary materials and guidelines to get the message across to my family, friends and colleagues. My success definitely wasn’t just down to me, as my supporters were generous and so was British Land, which match funded my £750 target.”
We can’t thank #TeamCreate enough for taking on this challenge – and Prudential plc for providing us with the VIP places to make this possible. We are looking forward to seeing the impact their efforts will have on the lives of so many disadvantaged and vulnerable children and adults over the coming months.
To congratulate riders and their wonderful supporters we hosted a post-race picnic at Hyde Park. And the weather held out!
I was reminded once again of the importance and impact of Create’s work when we hosted a unique event, Inside Stories at the Old Bailey last month at which author, journalist and Create Patron Erwin James gave an historic and inspirational speech.
It was in Court No. 1 of the Old Bailey that Erwin was handed down a life sentence in 1985. Whilst in prison – he served 20 years to the day – he discovered his passion and talent for writing.
He spoke from the witness stand in Court 1 about the power of the arts to change lives: “When I was sentenced and taken down to the cells below the court I was pretty sure my life was at an end. It had been a difficult and painful life, for me, but more importantly for other people because of me and I was relieved that it was over. I never expected to live again, not in any meaningful way. I certainly never imagined that one day I might be back in the same dock sharing the journey and explaining how I managed to salvage some good from the wreckage that had been my life before prison. I’m not proud of much in my life, but I’ve witnessed the work of Create in prisons and in the community and I’m proud and honoured to be a supporter. Experiencing creativity and the arts in prison helped me to find some value in my life and gave me the confidence to try to find a better way to live.”
Erwin’s speech was moving, powerful and challenged our guests’ perspectives on prisons and offenders. I’d like to say a huge thank you to him for his time, honesty and generosity on what was clearly a hugely emotional occasion.
Inside Stories at the Old Bailey was carefully planned to raise funds for our Inside Stories project, which connects fathers in prison with their children on the outside via storytelling. The evening started with a reception in the spectacular Grand Hall, including an introduction to the Old Bailey from our host, Sheriff Peter Estlin. We then entered Court 1 where His Honour Judge Topolski QC talked about the history and function of the courtroom itself. The significance of this particular court left us in no doubt about how momentous it was for Erwin to speak once again from the witness box.
After our guests had moved to the Judges’ Dining Room Create, novelist and Create writer Carol Topolski read three stories from a special edition of Stories from Daddy to Me – an Inside Stories storybook that had previously been recognised with a Platinum Koestler Award – and shared moving stories the fathers who had written them and their children. Carol subsequently wrote an article about the project for The Observer.
The evening concluded with tours of the Old Bailey, including the cells, generously led by Sherriff Peter Estlin, Lindy Estlin, His Honour Judge Topolski QC and Charles Henty, the Secondary of London and Under Sheriff and High Bailiff of Southwark. We appreciate so much the generosity of our hosts for enabling such an incredible evening, which raised £43,315 net for our work in prison and was described by one of our clients as: “the most remarkable event we can remember at Create”.
Create CEO Nicky Goulder and board member John Broadis (centre) collecting the Small Charity, Big Impact award
On Tuesday evening, Create Trustee John Broadis and I were guests at the stunning Leathersellers’ Hall in the City of London for a wonderful evening celebrating the exceptional contribution that small charities make to our society.
We were invited as winners of the Foundation for Social Improvement (FSI) Small Charity Big Impact Award (with an income between £500,001 – £1.5 million), one of ten awards given to charities that “clearly showed how they measure their impact, use it to improve their services and share it to build trust”.
Our approach to designing and delivering creative arts projects has always been to listen and learn – listen to participants, community and funding partners about how we can add value and learn from every workshop, every project and every piece of feedback.
We’re delighted that our commitment to excellence is delivering great results: alongside this award and our Charity Award win last month, we recently finished evaluating the feedback from 2016/17, the results of which are summarised in our Impact Report. For the first time, 100% of our community partners rated their project “successful overall”.
As part of our prize from the FSI, we have been featured in a book delivered to 10 Downing Street and had this amazing film made about our partnership with Deutsche Bank. It focuses on one element of the connect:create programme that we have designed to help them achieve their corporate responsibility objectives: an animation project at Queensmill School with young people with autism.
FSI CEO Pauline Broomhead said:
“Create won their category as they clearly showed how they measure their impact, use it to improve their services and share it to build trust. We would like to congratulate Create on their award and their fantastic work.
“Small charities (those with an annual turnover under £1.5 million) make up over 97% of the charity sector, yet their amazing work and impact can often be drowned out.
“In the recent House of Lords Report on charities, they said charities are the eyes, ears and conscience of society, they mobilise, inspire, advocate and unite. Every sentiment of this is true and especially so of the thousands of small and local charities and community groups registered in the UK whose reach knows no boundaries. Through the Small Charity Big Impact Awards we salute the dedication, support and determination of these organisations.”
Winning this prestigious award, and the incredible feedback we’ve had from our participants, community and funding partners, demonstrates that our approach of listening and learning works. As one of our partners told us: “Create is the ONLY organisation that has ever asked us what WE want.”
I spent a wonderful evening yesterday at the Charity Awards ceremony, an annual awards programme held to recognise organisations doing exceptional work in all areas of charitable activity. I’m thrilled to announce that Create won the Arts, Culture and Heritage Award.
The award was for our creative:connection programme, which works nationwide to bring together children and young people with and without disabilities through collaborative, boundary-breaking creative arts workshops. Selecting Create from a shortlist of three, the judges were impressed by the way that creative:connection “cut across boundaries rather than operating in silos, and offered something for everyone involved”. I’m delighted that the primary aim of the programme – to use the creative arts to facilitate understanding and acceptance of people with disabilities – was recognised so definitively by the panel.
The judges also commented that Create “was also able to evidence impact. [creative:connection] has reached 954 participants, with 97% of those saying they had enjoyed the project, 91% saying [it] had developed their creativity, and 89% saying it had developed their teamwork.” Our rigorous assessment of all Create projects is something that we are particularly proud of, as it enables us to learn, develop and ensure excellence, as well as demonstrating the value of our work to our funders, other stakeholders and potential funders. The SEN/mainstream schools and disability organisations who took part in creative:connection in 2016/17 will perhaps be less surprised than we were that we won this award as 100% of them rated the programme “successful overall”.
creative:connection participants take photographs together
I am so proud of creative:connection, which is Create’s widest-reaching programme (we’re run it everywhere from Cumbria to Kent!), and one of our most prolific. It has seen some amazing results over the years, not just in quantifiable figures but in areas that are more difficult to measure. Kayla (13) at a school for pupils with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties, told us: “I think projects like these can help stop bullying in school. It upsets me when people single disabled people out. But we got on really well with the [mainstream] students. I’ve made some of my best friends on this project.”
This is the third time Create has won a prestigious award in the last seven months. In November 2017 we won the Children & Young People Now Arts and Culture Award; and we have just heard that we are the winners of a further award … currently embargoed, so watch this space!
It is stories like Kayla’s that make the hard work of the Create team, our professional artists and community partners, and the commitment of our funders and the volunteers who support the programme, truly pay off. Receiving this award for creative:connection is invaluable in helping us both to raise awareness of the issues faced by our participants and of the work we do as the UK’s leading charity empowering lives through the creative arts.
Between January and March 2017, Create partnered with with Surjamuki Project in east London to deliver a 12-week creative project with young people with disabilities. Fatama is a Project Worker at Surjamuki Project. This is her experience of creative:connection.
“Our young people have been working with Create’s project with woodwork, artwork and film. I can think of so many examples of them enjoying the project. They enjoyed every second. There was not one thing that they did not enjoy.
“Today they just completed the film. Wow, they could act! We’ve done role play in the past, but putting it into action in a video and in a film, that’s something new for us. They got everything together, you guys worked really hard with them; I thought it was a really nice adventure. As soon as you talk about the film, there’s a big smile on the young people’s faces.
“Some of my young members never did anything in woodwork because they were too scared of the cutting and everything but when they started working with Create’s project they really enjoyed it. Now they’ve enjoyed it so much that we’re planning to do something like that in the future again. So I would say if I had to rate that project one to ten, I would say 100% ten.
“I believe everybody deserves the chance to do something creative. My young people learned to work in groups and it gives them the opportunity to socialise. Some of my young people don’t socialise with other young people, the only socialising they do is when they’re doing some activity like this.
“I have one young person – when she started here, she used to be very quiet, not talking to anyone at all because she went through a really hard time in life, and when she started with us it was one or two words, that would be it. And now, after the projects that they’ve done with Create, she’s socialising more with the young people around her, talking more, laughing more. She wakes up extra early just to come to us, her mum was saying. So things like that, they mean a lot to us.
“A young person with autism who loves his routine, when he started with Create, the first two projects, he thought: ‘No, I don’t want to do something new’. But then the more he came, the more he enjoyed it. Now he enjoys it and he’s learnt how to deal with a bit of difference. So three different projects we’ve done, and three different changes and he adjusted to it straight away, and that’s something we picked up on. We were shocked, and that’s something new for a young person at Surjamuki.”
Every week at Create is an exciting mix of delivering current projects and working with community partners, participants and our professional artists to plan projects for the future. But this week was particularly exciting as we found out our creative:connection programme has been shortlisted for the Charity Awards’ prestigious Arts, Culture and Heritage Award.
The Charity Awards is the charity sector’s longest-running, biggest and best-known awards ceremony. Charities are judged by an independent panel of charity leaders as having demonstrated outstanding best practice which other organisations can learn from across 10 categories. The category winners, plus the recipients of the Overall Award for Excellence and the Daniel Phelan Award for Outstanding Achievement, will be announced at a black tie dinner on 8 June, held in the grounds of the Tower of London.
Julian Chislett, Chief Executive of Civil Society Media, which organises the Charity Awards, congratulated all the shortlisted charities on making the highly-coveted shortlist: “The standard of entries this year was incredible, and the charities we shortlist remain a constant inspiration to all of us. Our rigorous judging process singles out those charities with the most innovative ideas and the most inspirational approaches to delivering maximum impact.”
Our creative:connection programme brings school pupils with and without disabilities together to make collaborative art. Working with our professional artists, young people across England, from Cumbria to Kent, have made visual art, music, film and more whilst building shared understanding and developing confidence and communication skills.
This is the fourth time Create has been shortlisted for a prestigious award in the last 12 months. In November we won the Children & Young People Now “Arts and Culture Award” and earlier in 2016 we were shortlisted for both The Third Sector and Charity Times Charity of the Year awards.
The outcomes of our projects for the participants are the greatest reward we can receive for our work. But winning and being shortlisted for these awards is fantastic recognition of the hard-work and success of our committed team of artists, staff, community partners and the funders who make our work possible, and confirms Create’s position as the UK’s leading charity for empowering lives through the creative arts.
CREATE’S NURTURING TALENT PROGRAMME GIVES NEW OPPORTUNITIES TO EMERGING ARTISTS
Create’s Nurturing Talent programme, which takes place over a year, gives emerging artists the opportunity to work as supporting artists on a range of Create projects, attend professional development training days and design and deliver their own Create workshop in a community setting. Each artist receives a bursary and commits to around 25 days across the year.
After a successful pilot programme between April 2016 and March 2017, made possible with a grant from The Queen’s Trust, Nurturing Talent has just kicked off its second year with a new group of six young artists.
Sara Macqueen and Christian Adofo
Last year’s five Nurturing Talent artists told us about their experiences of working with Create’s participant groups, learning from Create’s professional artists and growing in confidence through the programme:
Christian Adofo, writer
“Nurturing Talent has helped me to think about leadership, flexibility and patience when running workshops. I am now taking ownership of what I’m doing and finding a ‘workshop persona’. The skills I’ve developed on Nurturing Talent are helping me to build my own workshop practice where I can help people find a sense of identity through writing.”
Camilla Greenwell, photographer
“It’s been such a wonderful year. I really trusted the group and we bonded immediately. I felt really supported by Create: the team is organised and everyone listens.
“It was helpful learning from other artists. They had varied workshop styles and were insightful and generous in sharing their ideas. I feel so much more confident and calm now when delivering workshops.
“Nurturing Talent has helped me to say ‘yes’ to opportunities and to know I can succeed when taking them.”
Cecilia Knapp, writer, performer and poet
“It’s great to be part of a community in the arts world as a freelancer and meet new artists – I’ve struck up friendships and built a support network. I felt comfortable enough to ask questions and all the artists made space for me to try things out and lead when it felt safe to do so.
“Working with the groups that Create works with over a chunk of time helped me understand the challenges they face in more depth and the variety of projects I was involved with meant I learned how to prepare different activities. It’s been an enormous learning experience and all the Create artists are amazing! I wouldn’t have gained access to those experiences and opportunities without Nurturing Talent.
“I’ve developed confidence and learnt about planning projects from Create’s meticulous planning meetings. I could plan a workshop and not be afraid to run it now.
Sara Macqueen, dancer and choreographer
“Nurturing Talent was an eye-opener. The people we worked with changed the way I teach. I learnt how to be sensitive to everyone in the room and how to change the way I facilitate and make a journey for participants, who come at learning in a different way from the people I’ve taught before. I now have more patience and a versatile approach to what is possible.
“My confidence in myself as an artist improved and my perspective on what success is has broadened. I learnt that small achievements, like someone joining in sitting in a circle, can be massive.”
Jack Pryor, theatre director
“Through Nurturing Talent I’ve learnt new ways of working and collaborated with new people. I’m now more confident in adapting to new situations and working in different ways with different groups. My comfort zone has been expanded and I’ve learnt about how to care for participants to make them feel safe and comfortable.
“I’ve learnt new facilitation skills that I use daily and have incorporated into my current job. These ideas keep my practice fresh and give me the confidence to develop my writing.”
The 2017/18 Nurturing Talent programme has been supported by Charles Lloyd-Jones, The National Association of Decorative & Fine Arts Societies and The Queen’s Trust.
CREATE CELEBRATES THE IMPORTANCE OF CREATIVITY AT THE NEW DESIGN MUSEUM
On the evening of Thursday 16 March 2017, I had the great pleasure of welcoming more than 200 guests to our Special Private View of the Design Museum in Kensington, recently opened in its stunning new venue.
This exclusive evening of music, wine, conversation and curated tours presented an opportunity for guests to explore a world-class museum and its cutting-edge exhibitions in an intimate way after the doors closed to the general public. It also enabled us to raise more than £30,000 towards our work with disadvantaged and vulnerable people.
The evening opened with a reception of canapés and wine. Entering into the museum’s impressive atrium, guests were able to enjoy the space’s dramatic architecture and distinctive curved ceiling with a glass of wine, kindly sponsored by Chelsea arts gallery The Dot Project.
Create Ambassador and previous Design Museum Trustee Alistair DK Johnston CMG took to the stage, welcoming guests and thanking the event’s sponsors including The Kairos Collective, headline sponsor and online marketplace for the home. He introduced Design Museum Director Alice Black to the stage, who explained the history of the museum and told of its explosion in popularity since relocating to Kensington. She also talked of the connection between Create and the Design Museum as two organisations that celebrate and champion the importance of creativity.
In my speech, I shared the story of one of the most moving encounters I have had with a Create participant. Kojo (name changed to protect anonymity) is a young carer in Merton. He cares for his mum who has epilepsy and is partially blind. He has Asperger Syndrome himself, which, in conjunction with his caring responsibilities, has impacted his ability to make friends. I talked of seeing his level of confidence and self-esteem rocket during one of our photography projects, when his favourite image was purchased during the exhibition. One year later, he came with me to Buckingham Palace where he told his story and we were successfully awarded a transformational grant of £480,000 from The Queen’s Trust.
Sixteen children aged 7–10 from Hallfield Primary School, under the leadership of our professional musician Merit Stephanos, then wowed our guests and their parents with their world premiere performance of Sonic Design, the new piece they had written in response to the museum.
One of the children, Sophie aged 8, sang a solo in the performance: “I got to sing for my first ever audience in my whole life, and my mum was there. I was so shocked when I saw all the people: this is the biggest place I’ve ever seen and the biggest audience I’ve ever seen. I was nervous at first, but then I sang a bit more and felt more confident. At the end the audience kept on cheering for us and I felt really proud of myself.”
Sophie’s mum, Claire, told us what a meaningful experience this was for Sophie: “Sophie has two siblings, an older brother and an older sister, who both have autism. She doesn’t get half the things they get, like special trips out. So she gets a bit left out sometimes and having this opportunity to do something special just for her is something that she deserves. Her confidence has grown with it untold.
“I didn’t even know she was doing a solo until today! Although she’s quite loud sometimes, inside she’s quite shy so I didn’t think she’d have the courage to do it. She surprised me. She absolutely loves music so to have the opportunity to sing in front of so many people is amazing. I’m so proud of her.”
The children’s song was beautiful and uplifting. Looking around the room at the smiles on the faces of the guests, and hearing their comments and enthusiasm afterwards, it was clear how the children’s songs had touched them and demonstrated how creativity has the power to connect us all.
The guests then enjoyed intimate access to the Design Museum’s new exhibitions through curated tours sponsored by KPMG. Fear and Love presents eleven new installations by some of the most innovative and thought-provoking designers and architects working today; Designer Maker User presents the museum’s collection that looks at the development of modern design through these three interconnected roles.
As the guests finished their tours and began to leave the museum, they were handed goodie bags as a luxurious memento of the evening. We’d like to thank the event’s headline sponsor The Kairos Collective for contributing stylish tote bags and packets of forget-me-nots; Candy Kittens for contributing a colourful range of delicious gourmet sweets; and Time Inc UK for contributing indulgent beauty sets.
The £30,000+ raised from the evening through donations, ticket sales and corporate sponsorship will provide us with the funds we need to reach out to many more vulnerable children and adults across the UK over the coming months including: young patients; young carers; children with disabilities; and homeless people. Thank you.
Nicky Goulder Co-Founder and Chief Executive, Create
Headline sponsor: The Kairos Collective The Kairos Collective, launched in 2017 by founder Tanya Southworth, is a carefully curated, online marketplace for the home, bringing together the best of London’s design neighbourhoods into one online design district. Kairos brings together a collection of unique and eclectic homeware from a range of undiscovered interiors boutiques. Offering everything you need to create a home, from furniture and accessories to artwork and books, it believes in representing quality craftsmanship, not disposable quick fixes. It is THE destination for design enthusiasts and collectors who simply don’t have time to hunt for the perfect piece.
“My vision for The Kairos Collective was to inspire a community of young collectors, curators and enthusiasts by bringing together the very best of London’s interior boutiques, all onto one easy-to-use website. We share the vision of Create to integrate individuals from different parts of society into the world of creative arts. As the headline sponsor of the Special Private View, we are delighted to help raise awareness of the meaningful work carried out by Create.” Tanya Southworth, Founder, The Kairos Collective
Wine sponsor: The Dot Project The Dot Project is a forward thinking and innovative arts space in Chelsea. The gallery identifies emerging contemporary artists, working in a variety of mediums comprised within both group and solo shows, curated with a global perspective. The Dot Project provides a test bed for young practitioners to exhibit in a dynamic and open space with highly focused curatorial support.
Curated tour sponsor: KPMG KPMG is one of the largest professional services companies in the world and one of the Big Four auditors. Its global headquarters is located in Amstelveen, the Netherlands. KPMG employs 189,000 people and has three lines of services: audit, tax, and advisory.
RAISE YOUR HANDS SELECTS CREATE AS A LONG-TERM PARTNER
We are very excited to announce that Create has been selected as a Raise Your Hands charity as a long-term charity partner, providing us with the assurance of sustainable funding into the future. This is an incredible gift.
Raise Your Hands is a community that supports highly effective and innovative small charities. Through its fresh approach, Raise Your Hands offers members a hassle-free way to transform young lives. Throughout the year, it plans fresh, innovative fundraising events (such as bingo parties, pop-up restaurants and Oktoberfest parties) for its members to generate much-needed funds for its 12 charities.
The Raise Your Hands team also does its fair share of fundraising challenges. Last August, we were delighted to welcome Ed Wethered, Co-Founder of Raise Your Hands, to Create’s HQ on the first day of an incredible 1,000km fundraising run (the equivalent of 26 marathons in 27 days!) that raised an awesome £30,000.
These fundraising events, alongside small monthly donations by the members, generate significant sums of money for the charities. Last year RYH awarded us £19,500, a fantastic sum that will enable us to reach out to dozens of young carers during 2017.
In 2018, we will use the Raise Your Hands funding to support the breadth of our work with vulnerable children across the UK: young patients; children with disabilities; young carers; schoolchildren in areas of deprivation; and young offenders and their children.
creativity:revealed is Create’s multi-artform project for residents and clients of Jewish Care’s Maurice and Vivienne Wohl Campus in North West London.
Throughout November and December 2016 the participants worked together to shoot photographs, building technical, creative and social skills.
David (90) lives at home with his wife and attends Jewish Care’s Michael Sobell Community Centre twice a week. This is his story:
“My wife has been living with dementia for around four years and much of my week is structured around what she’s going to do. I try to keep things as interesting as possible for her. I take her to a singing group and she loves to listen to classical music – it’s restful and peaceful. She goes to Jewish Care’s Sam Beckman Centre for people living with dementia on Mondays and Thursdays and that’s when I come here.
“I love to be creative and I was thrilled when I found out the project was going to be photography. I’ve been taking photographs probably since I was in my early 20s or maybe even before. I have loved photography all my life. I’ve got a collection of over 100 colour transparencies of public house signs throughout the country which I’ve taken over the years. They represent much of the history and culture of England, whether it’s sport, religion, history, farming, railways, aircraft, etc.
A photograph taken by David during the creativity:revealed project
“I think photography is an exciting subject but like anything else you’ve got to know how to do it to do it properly. It’s been stressed today that it isn’t how good the camera is, it’s whether you see something worth capturing. When we were doing public house signs we’d be somewhere in the car and my wife would say “oh, there’s one over there,” or if she saw something which would be a nice photo she’d say “that’s a good picture”. So the workshops so far have reinforced my knowledge of composition.
“Throughout the six weeks of the Create project we’re going to learn about different aspects of photography. We’ve been learning this morning about various important photographers from the past, including Cartier-Bresson, who was concerned with the ‘strategic moment’. We then took pictures of other members of the group to practice capturing movement.
“One member of the class is 97 and I’m 90. The artist leading the group, Alejandra, has been absolutely first class. She’s got empathy, pleasantness, and she’s understanding. She’s really keen on showing everyone how to do things. I’m absolutely thrilled that this is available.”
