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In these difficult times for the arts and public funding for culture even surviving is significant. Our major funders, the Arts Council and Nottingham City Council, faced crippling cuts from central government and we are very grateful for the continued support from both of them.
We believe that community based arts is the best way of helping people release their creative potential and has a real benefit to the lives of individuals and communities. It does not require large buildings and expensive infrastructures, but does need a dedicated, committed and highly skilled group of people. City Arts has these, and the Board and I are very grateful for the continued commitment of the people working for City Arts; the staff, the artists we engage and the partners we work with. They are the people that make great things happen. Without them City Arts would not be the uniquely successful organisation, with a commitment to delivering high quality art, that it is.
City Arts achieved lots in 2012-13 and I continue to wonder at how much such a small group of staff can do. It has not all been fun; potential financial issues continued to haunt the organisation. Thanks to a commitment to generating more income through our assets, skills and services we were able to make our way through the year.
The announcement that our consortium of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire organisations bid to deliver ‘First Art’, an Arts Council funded Creative People and Places project, was successful is fantastic news for us and the people of north Nottinghamshire. It has given City Arts the opportunity to concentrate on its primary task of making and delivering art with local communities, but more of that next year!
I am very grateful for all the support that has been given to me by the rest of the Board during this challenging, but ultimately successful, year. City Arts continues to be a local and regional leader in participatory arts practice and very good value for money indeed.
Tim Challans
Chair, City Arts November 2013