In 2019 organicARTS worked with 6502 people on 233 onsite sessions, and 15 offsite. This is an average of almost 5 sessions a week!
In April we finished renovations in our crowdfunded grain barn, a new creative space for us! This space was vital to us expanding our creative offering, we now have somewhere warm, dry and inspiring to run our artistic sessions. Many group and individuals have worked in this space in 2019, and it is now home to our very own weekly creative group, The Makers Group. Many thanks to everyone who donated or lent a hand.
In the pictures above, looking at the same corner you can see the amazing transformation that our team worked so hard to achieve.
In May we held our first exhibition ‘organicARTS and Abstraction’ in Exeter, at the Boatyard Bakery and Café. This exhibition showcased the creative talent to come out of our workshops, and artwork inspired by our location here on West Town Farm. It also featured abstract paintings by one of our trustees Peter Grainger.
Work from local artists inspired by being at organicARTS, displayed at the Boatyard Bakery.
In July the Community Garden Project had a visit from our funders, Big Lottery Reaching communities. They wanted to see first hand what we were doing and how it was having an impact on our volunteers and people who visit OrganicARTS.
They got stuck in and helped water the potatoes and chatted to our volunteers. After the visit they said ‘This is exactly the impact we are wanting from our funding’
We were so please to hear this feedback and are working towards making an even bigger impact in 2020.
Our 2019 feedback showed us that
- 100% of visitors who attended an activity at organicARTS rated us 4 out of 5 or higher
- 88% of people who attended an activity at OrganicARTS said they learnt new skills
- 74% of people who attended an activity at OrganicARTS said they were being creative more often, and that they are more relaxed and/or less stressed
These are all big things but we see personal achievements everyday with the people who visit us. Small steps in gaining confidence and seeing the power in your own skills. We are looking forward to continuing this work in 2020 and sharing it with you all.
