Funding Desperately Needed For Creative Arts, Christchurch

Creative Arts has been providing a unique service to Christchurch residents since 1975. Any member of the community is welcome to attend classes where they can learn a variety of arts and crafts for the cost of the materials of the project they produce. Over 90% of the people who attend classes are severely disabled and unable to care for themselves or find employment. At Creative Arts, all people can come together and enjoy a safe, friendly atmosphere of self-expression. We aim to provide a service that improves the quality of life for all who attend. One of the most unique aspects of our service is that we have created an atmosphere were all people, regardless of their financial situation, age, physical or mental capabilities are welcomed and valued. Our classes are not segregated from the able bodied population in any way; retirees and school aged children work happily alongside disabled adults.

Our History: Previously named Floyd’s Creative Arts, the name was changed when the charity was restructured in 2010 due to financial difficulties. After the restructure, the charity continued business as usual in the Floyd’s Centre. However, the Floyd’s Centre was located in Linwood and suffered irreparable damage during the February 2011 earthquake. While the building was red stickered, materials and essential equipment were also looted from the building.

By August 2011, classes were up and running again as a mobile service provided by one person in two donated locations, Wigram Manor and Burnside Elim Community Church. Monthly attendance rates began to soar and private funding was secured to finance the salary of an additional tutor from a private philanthropic trust. A local artist came on board in January 2012 and the portfolio of classes expanded, more people started attending classes and the charity was able to secure more locations at a minimal rental fee to hold classes.

Thanks to generous grants received throughout 2012, we were able to procure materials to replace those lost in the earthquake which allowed us to continually grow our service and to meet the needs in the community not met anywhere else. Creative Arts has been operating as a mobile service successfully and continues to grow every week. In addition to four weekly classes held in locations throughout the city, the mobile service goes to different agencies every month to hold classes at care facilities. Attendance records since the earthquake show a consistent increase in attendance. The average weekly attendance started at 38 people per week in August 2011 and has increased to 53 people per week served by May 2013. That amounts to more than 1600 people in classes in 2012; we are on track to have over 2100 people in our classes by the end of this year, not including likely growth rates. One class was so large at one point the donated facility in Wigram was too small and the class was split in two.

Regardless of our growth, like with many charities we are having financial difficulties. Attempts have been made to merge our services with other similar services in the city, but the lack of funding puts too much pressure on the other organisations and they do not feel they will be able to take on our $16,000(at no charge) worth of materials nor the experience to use those materials that comes with the existing staff. We have also been looking at starting a new charity that more fully encompasses our goals of community, creativity and caring. There are prominent people in Christchurch interested in assisting us in this change, but while the new charity is formed we need financial assistance to keep holding classes.

Private Funding Issues: We are satisfying a unique need in Christchurch but we cannot get funding to support us and we will have to close at the end of this school term (12 July.) Salary funding has run out for the program coordinator already but a private benefactor has agreed to help until the end of the term. Running the classes and coordinating the program is a full time job requiring the assistance of a tutor to facilitate the classes on a part-time basis, volunteers also play a key role in classes. Private philanthropic trusts had granted salary funding for these positions since November 2011 but because there are so many charities needing money since the earthquakes, the funding cannot be renewed and all known funding avenues have been exhausted.

In addition, we have not been able to replace the centre that closed due to the February earthquake. The facilities donated in the aftermath of the earthquake are still being used rent free. However, the primary facility that has been donated to house our office, workshop and where we hold most of our classes will not be able to house us after September. The rooms are rented for the rebuild.

In order to obtain funding for a permanent space, it is necessary to have a rental agreement. However rental space is at a premium in Christchurch since the rebuild hasn’t actually started. Rental prices are high across the board. Occasionally space has been found at reasonable rates but the space is either not handicap accessible or too small to hold classes for numerous people in electric wheelchairs. If the organization were able to have a regular space, we would be able to service clients who are uncomfortable with change. In addition we would like to open a small shop on the permanent premises similar to the one run at the Floyd’s centre where students can sell their work. This gives students a sense of pride in their financial contribution either to their own existence or to donate back to the charity.

Public Funding Issues: The Ministry of Social Development previously funded Floyd’s but in February 2011 prior to the earthquake, that funding was redirected to PACT, a Dunedin based organization that connects disabled adults with vocational opportunities. A valuable service in line with the goals of the Office of Disability Issues (an MSD subsidiary,) but not at all similar to the service provided by Creative Arts. PACT does not provide vocational training or any interactive service with the people of Christchurch, they are facilitators. Creative Arts actively and physically interacts with the people who use our service. We are located here; we know what it is like to live in this devastated city. We have relationships with our clients that connect them to the community in a way that is diminishing especially for disabled and disadvantaged people in Christchurch.

Creative Arts is not a technical vocational service and always maintained that the people who attend the service do so for the social integration and improved quality of life. We acknowledge the fact that the majority of our attendance is formed by people who are not able to work due to the severity of their disability. We feel that these people are not being given opportunities within the community simply because they cannot work. All they want is somewhere safe to go where they can take part in something at their own pace and to their own capability. We provide a service that exists solely for that purpose, to enhance the quality of life for the community.

Local funding was available prior to the earthquake as well. Christchurch City Council had a pilot program aimed at graffiti artists and community development but the program failed. Any other funds that had been available for the artistic community have been redirected to programs directly related with earthquake recovery. While Creative Arts has been supporting the people during the recovery, it is not our mission only an unexpected result.

Since the earthquakes, there have been numerous additional people utilizing the service as mental health consumers. These have not been official referrals because we do not require official referrals at this time, but social service agencies have been actively seeking the service Creative Arts provides. We fill a need that no one else does. Our service is the only service that provides real art instruction for the cost of the materials in various locations throughout the city. It is difficult and sometimes not possible for disabled and disadvantaged citizens to travel to classes in the construction zone of Christchurch. On the East side in particular, even sidewalks are still damaged to a point that electric wheelchairs simply cannot navigate the bumps and potholes which further segregates our city and the disabled community. It has been an integral part of our service that we are able to come to them and reconnect them with a support system, a community and with their well-being.

Creative Arts has been supporting those with mental difficulties since we operated as Floyd’s. As Floyd’s, The Canterbury District Health Board recognized our contribution to mental health consumers. That service has not ceased at any time since the restructure of the charity. However, the restructure has meant that the DHB is unable or unwilling to support our service because of the historical connection to Floyd’s. This is a recurring problem with funding and is one of the main reasons we are attempting to start a new charity with a new Board of Trustees.

What We Need: In order to remain open and serve the disabled and disadvantaged people of Christchurch, we require funds for the salaries of two employees (one full and one part time) for this fiscal year. It would be possible to continue the service as a completely mobile unit, needing only a workshop/shed environment to house our equipment and supplies, but ideally we need a handicap accessible space in which to hold classes, develop tailor-made programs and perform administrative functions.

We would like to continue providing workshops and expand to additional locations to make our classes more accessible to all those in need in the Christchurch/Canterbury region. Part of our expansion plan is to develop a curriculum targeting the isolated male population and community classes for those who have become mentally affected by the quakes and red zone residential situation. As a request from the Christchurch Woman’s Prison, we would re-establish and expand classes we were providing last year as a charitable contribution to this community. As with all other areas, classes in this community foster positive relationships and constructively channel energies.

The intangible outcomes we produce- improved quality of life- cannot be quantified on a spreadsheet but it can be felt and seen when we are with our students. There are many people from all parts of Christchurch and Canterbury who can attest to our contribution to their quality of life. As part of our hope to start a new charity, we are looking for influential people in Christchurch and Canterbury to join our board. These would be voluntary roles. We are seeking individuals that have a passion to change the lives and well-being of those that are marginalised due to their disabilities. We are determined to continue to provide a professional and effective service for our clients but we no longer can do it on our own.

“For the test of a civilization is in the way that it cares for its helpless members.” Pearl S. Buck, My Several Worlds (1954)

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