Rural Art Hub | On the Road

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Funded on
21 Feb 2024

Providing creative workshops and events across rural areas in North Shropshire and the Borderlands

£6,316 Raised of £6,222

40 Backers

101%

Our Delivery Report

Funded on 21 February 2024 | Delivered on 20 October 2024

£6,316

RAISED

40

BACKERS

62

DAYS TO FUND

BIGGEST PLEDGE

£3,000

From Postcode Lottery Trust

£5

MOST POPULAR PLEDGE AMOUNT

250

people have visited this project!

Project Image

40 Community events created

an understanding of biodiversity supported

25 an understanding of biodiversity supported

Rural Art Hub donated £2

100% of backers think the project makes the area more fun

50 People involved in project delivery

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Project Image

100% of backers think the project provides more things to do

6 New part-time jobs created

100% of backers think the project brings people together

6 Days volunteering opportunities

100% of backers think the project adds character to the area

Shropshire Council

Shropshire Council donated £984

More about our impact

The environment

We promoted walking and appreciating biodiversity and the natural landscape, in particular, the natural habitats that exist in close proximity to the road.

The local economy

We provided work for 5 paid facilitators. As well as skill building for volunteers. We supported the tourist economy as planned.

Volunteering, jobs & education

We have met all our aims. Working with a large range of organisations including Midway Truckstop, Whitchurch Museum and Archives, Ellesmere Our Space Library, Welshampton Parish Hall, Wem Youth Club/Shropshire All About Youth, Wem Vehicles of Interest, Shropshire In Tune Radio, Shropshire Search and Rescue, Salop Wheelers Community Transport.

Arts, culture & heritage

We developed and deepened our existing connections as planned. And it was a brilliant learning experience teaching us that to engage a really wide and diverse audience takes enormous patience and commitment. It was especially interesting to develop relationships with organisations that do not usually host or connect with arts organisations, for example, the Midway Truckstop.

Activity, health and leisure

We developed lots of opportunities for workshops involving walking.

https://ruralarthub.org.uk

Our innovative, interdisciplinary projects bring together creativity, heritage and sustainability to support transformation and inspiration at the heart of community. We are artist-, volunteer- and community-led, committed to supporting the local and regional arts and rural ecology.

Central to our vision as an organisation are the well-documented benefits of open-ended, playful, exploratory creative processes to support resilience and enable a sense of radical transformation. We bring this open-endedness together with heritage arts and crafts activities to provide an innovative, inclusive volunteer, artist and community-led programme that is unique in the local cultural ecology. We aim to focus on and respond to a number of specific challenges and outcomes for the local population, where there is a high proportion of older people experiencing rural isolation and lack of opportunity for young people.

Our aims are based on a vision for a grassroots organisation that is led by local lived experience and opens innovative ways to create a new sense of community and place across different diverse groups who may not otherwise connect. We are, in particular, focussed on responding to rural isolation and working to support new ways to bring all ages together to think about sustainable futures. We aim to engage with all ages through a diverse programming that mixes more accessible and familiar content, including heritage crafts and art, with other more challenging but rewarding activities that introduce new outcomes and unique experiences. We are particularly keen to provide opportunities for intergenerational creativity where, for example, adults can experience the way children create and play. We create opportunities for reflecting on sustainability through a choice of materials or an understanding of the needs of the natural world and the impact of climate change. We are also particularly interested in continuity by providing long-term activities that can help us sustain engagement and really understand the needs and interests of individuals we work with. Through our “Pay What You Can”, taster and free activities we address inclusivity because of economic barriers. We also signpost to community transport providers and subsidise travel costs if needed and possible.

Project Owner: Rural Art Hub The Project Owner takes legal responsibility for receiving and spending the funds raised and ensuring the project is delivered.