Final round of investment confirmed for inspiring community arts projects

Six community arts projects are celebrating after successfully winning funding for exciting initiatives in Exeter

The winning groups will deliver projects that create pride of place and opportunities for participation around the city.

The projects, ranging from an ‘animation academy’ run by Yellow Mouse Studios, to new winter activities at Exeter Seedbank, will share £35,000 funding from the current Creative Arc programme.

Funded jointly by the University of Exeter and Exeter City Council through its allocation of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, Creative Arc has been supporting community initiatives under the themes of Health & Wellbeing; Environmental Sustainability; and People & Place-shaping.

This latest round brings the total investment to £90,000 across 15 projects.

Dom Jinks, Manager for the Creative Industries and Economy, in the Exeter Innovation department at the University, said: “We had a fantastic response to this third round of funding in the current programme, with 22 applications totalling a potential ask of £150,000. This made for a competitive and challenging assessment, and we’re delighted that the six winning projects cover such a broad spectrum of activity.

“This also speaks for the appetite here in the South West for innovative place-making projects, and the wealth of socially responsible artists and organisations trying to make them happen.”
The six winning projects are:

• Yellow Mouse Studios – Exeter Animation Academy. Thanks to the Creative Arc funding, Yellow Mouse Studios will expand their Animation Academy project to offer training for up to 30 young people who are currently experiencing challenges. The programme, which will be offered either as a half-term holiday group or a four-week training course, provides an introduction to digital animation, techniques, software and tools, and will result in the creation of individual animation sequences that have positive, inclusive messages.
• Honeyscribe – Plant Prescriptions. This project will enable healthcare professionals at the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital to access free, high-quality creative encounters during their shifts to support health and wellbeing, connect staff to the natural environment and each other. The project will offer a curated programme of botanically themed workshops delivered by Honeyscribe and South West-based freelance artists.
• Chloe Whipple – All Souls’ Day St Thomas. The staging of an All Souls’ Day St Thomas inter-cultural festival is the focus of Chloe Whipple’s successful application. The festival – set to be held on 27 October at the Apostle Church on Cowick St – will focus on celebrating ancestors while offering meaningful opportunities to talk and reflect upon grief and mortality. It will also provide opportunities for immigrant communities to share their traditions, rituals, faiths and creativity.
• Documental Theatre – Sing & Sign and Newsicles! With a focus upon empowering people with learning disabilities and carers in Exeter through creative expression, this multi-faceted project includes a Sing and Sign Jukebox Choir, a six-session song-writing course, and the launch of Newsicles, a regular event to showcase new musical theatre in the Exeter area.
• Burn the Curtain – Winter Parade. The establishment of a Winter Parade is the focus of Burn the Curtain’s project, an annual community arts event that will celebrate and give voice to the people of Sidwell Street. Burn the Curtain will facilitate a series of engagement events and workshops to co-design and create new carnival images that will form the centrepiece of the parade, and there will be puppeteering opportunities for people leading to the full illuminated parade.
• Exeter Seed Bank – Seed Continuity & Landraces. Creative Arc funding will provide support for Exeter Seed Bank’s flagship events and activities, resulting in two new strands of work for the October 2024 – March 2025 timeframe, focused on seed collecting and winter sowing. The project is dedicated to expanding interest in the craft of seed saving, a practice of cultural importance and understanding of our natural and cultivated spaces.

Each of the projects will have the support of an academic advisor from the University.

Cllr Bob Foale, Exeter City Council’s Lead Councillor for Arts Culture and Tourism, said: “This is great news and I’m genuinely excited to see such a fantastic range of innovative community arts projects being recognised in this latest round of funding. I can’t wait to see these projects come to fruition around the city and I have no doubt of the benefits that they will bring to communities in Exeter.”

For more information about Creative Arc, including anyone wanting to support or invest in future rounds of the programme, visit the website for further details.