Wishing you a peaceful Christmas.
What has been so extraordinary about 2020 is the resilience, creativity and care offered from colleagues, peers, friends. Project Art Works made the decision to stay open in all ways. We closed the studios for 14 weeks but kept the lines of connection and communication open with our collective and communities of support. We delivered boxes of art materials, posted weekly drawing propositions, discovered new ways of working and staying connected across time and space. We do not recognise or accept the dubious terminologies that have surfaced during the year such as comorbidity, frailty and vulnerability. What we have experienced is strength, resilience and creativity and a willingness to collaborate to find new ways in which to work and to remain hopeful for what is to come. This in no way ignores the polarities of experience and the hardship faced by so many. We feel hugely grateful for the extraordinary support we have received from our partners, colleagues and funders and from Arts Council England who have advocated so strongly and successfully for art and culture.
It has been a year of learning in so many ways. Our teams of freelance artists have used ingenuity and deep knowledge of their collaborators to extend their practice and we thank them for holding their nerve and making art!
We send you all our good wishes for the mid-winter and look forward to meeting again in the new year.
Thanks to the brilliant Project Art Works team for embracing the moment and showing strength and resilience in all ways Tim Corrigan, Creative Director; Wendy Routley, Head of Finance and Operations; Helen Charlton, Head of Development; Patricia Finnegan, Lead Artist and Creative Programme Manager; Katie Taylor, Creative Programme Manager; Jessica Courtney Bennet, Communications and Project Manager; Martin Swan, EXPLORERS Programme Coordinator; Annis Joslin, Lead Artist; Rachel Hine, Lead artist; Georgiana Scott, Photographer and Artist Facilitator; Sara Dare, Associate Artist and Gallery and Production Coordinator; Sally Bourner, Gallery and Project Coordinator; Esther Springett, Community Networks Coordinator; Leila McMillan, Archivist; Tom Lepora, Magda Patza, Maya Shapiro Steen, Sarah Dunne, Mark Daniels, Andrew Cooper, Dion Downes, Oliver Crowther, Peter Quinnell, Jane Caley, Holli Macnamara, Charlotte Hanlon, and Tony Colley.
A special thanks to our board members for their encouragement and support.
We thank and acknowledge; The National Lottery, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Arts Council England and Three Guineas Trust for their targeted support for art and people through Art, Freedom Care and revenue and COVID emergency funding during 2020 as well as the Rayne Foundation, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, East Sussex County Council Short Breaks, St James’ Place Foundation, The Childwick Trust, ESCC Hastings Enrichment Funding, BBC Children in Need, 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust, Garfield Western Foundation, Magdalen and Lasher Charity, Sussex Community Foundation, Stock Spirits and Premier Inn.
Kate Adams. Director & CEO
Images:
Camelot Collaboration, Artwork by Gemma Evans, Project Art Works. 2020.
Film Still, Out and About in Lockdown, Project Art Works, 2020.
The Observer Building Residency, Project Art Works, 2020.
Studio B, Virtual Engagement, Project Art Works. 2020.