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What we do
At The Craftimation Factory we believe passionately that everyone is naturally creative. Furthermore, through the development of our own practice and research, and by studying the work of others, we know that being creative can have a great many benefits, including promoting mental and physical well-being. We believe that everyone should have the right to access creative activities, and we seek to work with those who might have difficulty in engaging in such occupations due to disability, mental health challenges, socio economic status, or any other barrier.
'Creativity is important for happiness. Creativity is part of you, whether you are an artist, a bus driver, a stay-at-home mum, or a professional. No matter who you are, some degree of creativity is necessary for wellness and contentment.’ The Creativity Cure by Carrie Barron, MD & Alton Barron, MD
A reflection on working through the pandemic
written by Janey Moffatt
March 2020 felt like no other month in time; a whirlwind of chaotic emotions, fears and uncertainty as the world faced the Covid 19 Pandemic and went into lockdown. Our homes became the main focus of our lives, with the buildings we live in suddenly seeming the only safe space we had.
It felt appropriate to respond to the situation by being flexible, available, nurturing, containing; these words describe our stance in carrying our projects forward during this challenging time. For me, on a personal level, it felt like a mature reaction and I felt proud of our joint decisions as co-facilitators after the sessions had been carried out. I learned a lot about the subtlety of important change and growth in individuals, and the necessity of examining projects qualitatively rather than quantitatively. I had a tendency to focus on the latter in the past, feeling the need for numbers and results in order to prove the validity of my work. I’ve had a deep shift in my awareness that it’s unethical to view a human being only as a number or statistic – and this type of number crunching is a skewed way of evaluating work amongst humans.
I’ve also realised that activities that can look rather unimpressive on the surface can actually be implementing profound changes in participants and that simple activities that are well delivered within a nurturing space are far more important than a project that screams with bells and whistles but that lacks space for reflection and connection. I was moved by the positive response of participants – they seemed to glean a great deal out of the fact that we were simply a consistent, reliable presence in what was an otherwise tumultuous time. Even if they didn’t manage to attend every session, they were very much a part of the process and were held by the space even when they weren’t in it. I noticed that this increased my own capacity for compassion towards the group and myself, which has significantly benefitted my art practice.
Lockdown projects
All In The Same Storm with The Refugee Buddy Project
The Refugee Buddy Project initiated an online version of Stitch For Change, a project that began in late 2019 to bring people together through storytelling and making. Set against the traumatic backdrop of Covid 19, through 2020 70 people met regularly online to share their experiences and find a collective voice.
Isolation Inspiration at The Mill Primary Academy
Brought to you by Room 13, a dedicated art studio run by a committee of children who attend the school. They work with an artist-in-residence to bring exciting projects to life within the school and in the wider community.
The children who visit Room 13 passionately believe that creativity can help you through pretty much anything. They were determined to respond to the pandemic with positivity and imagination, and would like to share what they have achieved so that others might benefit by having ideas of their own.
Creative Change in conjunction with House of Cultural Curiosity
Creative Change combines collaborative making activities with nurturing conversation to create a safe space for reflection. Sessions with twelve individuals, supporting participants in creating artwork to get them through the pandemic.
All In The Same Storm:
Pandemic Patchwork Stories
The Refugee Buddy Project launched Stitch For Change in 2019. During 2020's pandemic, 70 people met regularly online to share their experiences and find a collective voice. Through connection via Zoom and by sharing creative skills, participants were able to support themselves and each other through what was otherwise an incredibly challenging period.
Project participants told their stories of life during the pandemic through the stitching of handmade patchwork squares, revealing tales of isolation, togetherness and hope. 95 patches were made in total; these were sewn together into four quilts that were displayed in an exhibition at De La Warr Pavilion.
You can watch a film about the project here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_noRCGJL5I&t=44s
Isolation Inspiration at The Mill Primary Academy
Brought to you by Room 13, a dedicated art studio run by a committee of children who attend the school. Set up as 'Isolation Inspiration', the project continued to run online for all pupils, and in person for vulnerable and key worker children during the pandemic.
Alongside building a website and creating art videos that all children could visit, the pupils ran Thank You For Caring and Bandage Me Better.
Thank You For Caring saw the children screen print and sew Christmas stockings and tree decorations for all the key worker parents who have children attending the school.
Bandage Me Better saw the children take part in an international project that looks at how every day textiles are hugely important to our lives. The pupils worked with a quilt artist to create two quilts, alongside a hanging installation entitled 'Stay At Home'. These works will be exhibited at Crawley Library and Crawley Museum in Spring 2022.
You can visit the Isolation Inspiration website here: https://isolation-inspiration.weebly.com/
You can watch the Isolation Inspiration online art videos here: https://isolation-inspiration.weebly.com/room-13-online.html
JA.# F W•lo'N. Isolation Inspiration Quilts .Ip
Creative Change in conjunction with House Of Cultural Curiosity
Creative Change combines collaborative making activities with nurturing conversation to create a safe space for reflection. Ten sessions with twelve individuals, supporting participants in creating artwork to get them through the pandemic. Online exhibition of works created here:
http://creativechangeproject.weebly.com/
Our approach stems from the idea, shared by Professor David Gauntlett in his book Making is Connecting that the thoughtful, physical process of making something means that: "an individual is given the opportunity to reflect, and to make their thoughts, feelings or experiences manifest and tangible. This unusual experience gets the brain firing in different ways, and can generate insights which would most likely not have emerged through directed conversation."
'At the start of the project, each contributing artist brought an image that particularly resonated with them at that time. Some were made by the artist and others were found. We shared them together as a group, explaining why we had chosen them, and then the images traveled to another artist in the group who worked in response to it. That work was then shared a fortnight later and passed on again. This continued every fortnight for the duration of the project.'
'The sessions were weekly and would alternate so every fortnight we would share the collaborative artworks and in between we would make and share quick ten-minute warm up collages while we were together on our Zoom call. On collaging weeks we responded to slightly different prompts each time, and gradually started to bring in more found materials as we went. This gave us an opportunity to check in deeply with where we all were at these different moments during lockdown.'
Thank You
During 2020 we managed to connect with more than 1000 people through our online and in person activity - a great achievement in a time of international pandemic. A huge thank to all those who worked with us, checked out our exhibitions, participated in our activities. This would not have been possible without the support of our funders.
With thanks to National Lottery Community Fund, The Chalk Cliff Trust, The Longley Trust.
To see more of our award winning work please visit us at www.thecraftimationfactory.org Charity Number 1155890
Trustees: Linda Moffatt (Chair), Fiz Lauer Deaves, Emma Blake, Elly Dove We have a minimum of 4 trustees at any one time. If a vacancy becomes available
We
do not hold financial reserves.
Contact us at: janey@thecraftimationfactory.org 26 Paynton Road, St Leonards on Sea, TN37 7DY
| The Craftimation Factory | The Craftimation Factory | The Craftimation Factory | 1155890 | 1155890 | 1155890 | CC16a | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| For the period from |
1.1.20 | To | 31.12.20 | ||||
| Section A Receipts and payments | |||||||
| A1 Receipts | Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ 7,697 1,610 - 3,249 - 2,500 2,268 204 17,528 - - - 17,528 200 32 - 16,302 2,236 202 40 153 376 19,541 - - - 19,541 - 2,013 - - - 2,013 |
Restricted funds to the nearest £ - - 3,000 - 1,222 - - - 4,222 - - - 4,222 - - 940 3,282 - - - - - 4,222 - - - 4,222 - - - - |
Endowment funds to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
Total funds to the nearest £ 7,697 1,610 3,000 3,249 1,222 2,500 2,268 204 21,750 - - - 21,750 200 32 940 19,584 2,236 202 40 153 376 23,763 - - - 23,763 - 2,013 |
Last year to the nearest £ |
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| The Mill PrimaryAcademy | 7,697 | - | |||||
| Hastings Contemporary | 1,610 | - | |||||
| The Chalk Cliff Trust | - | - | |||||
| Culture Shift | 3,249 | - | |||||
| Magdalen & Lasher | - | - | |||||
| Refugee BuddyProject | 2,500 | - | |||||
| Seymour PrimaryAcademy | 2,268 | - | |||||
| Refund | 204 | - | |||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) |
17,528 | - | |||||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). |
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| Sub total | - | - | |||||
| Total receipts A3 Payments |
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| Mileage & Travel | 200 | - | |||||
| MeetingExpenses | 32 | - | |||||
| Project Management | - | - | |||||
| Facilitator Fees | 16,302 | - | |||||
| Workshop& Project Materials | 2,236 | - | |||||
| Exhibition Materials | 202 | - | |||||
| Postage | 40 | - | |||||
| Training | 153 | - | |||||
| Equipment | 376 | - | |||||
| **Sub total ** | 19,541 | - | |||||
| A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) |
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| **Sub total ** | - | - | |||||
| Total payments Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash funds this year end |
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| - 2,013 | - | - | - 2,013 | - | |||
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| - 2,013 | - | - | - 2,013 | - |
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
28/10/2021
1
| Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period | Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period | Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Categories Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees B1 Cash funds B2 Other monetary assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use B5 Liabilities B3 Investment assets |
Signature Details Details Details Details Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details |
Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ - 2,013 - - - - - - 2,013 - OK OK Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - - - - - Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional) - - - - - Print Name Linda Moffatt |
Endowment funds to nearest £ |
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| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| OK | |||
| Endowment funds to nearest £ |
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| Current value (optional) |
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| Current value (optional) |
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| When due (optional) |
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| Date of approval |
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| Linda Moffatt | 28.10.21 | ||
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
28/10/2021
2