Annual Report 2006/07

CAN’S MISSION:COMMUNITY ARTS NORTH WEST IS PASSIONATE ABOUT SUPPORTING DIVERSE COMMUNITIES AND ARTISTS IN GREATER MANCHESTER TO DEVELOP HIGH-QUALITY, MEANINGFUL

PARTICIPATORY ARTS PROJECTS

A fuller description of CAN’s work can be found at www.can.uk.com

NEIGHBOURHOOD RENEWAL A POWERFUL LEVER FOR ATTRACTING ADDITIONAL RESOURCES The Neighbourhood Renewal Fund has been a valuable resource since 2003, supporting both project work and the post of the Arts Development Manager at CAN. | A key role of this post has been to identify and acquire additional resources to develop sustainable futures within the arts for both CAN and other cultural organisations and groups. | The Arts Development Manager has attracted over nine hundred thousand pounds to resource CAN’s current and future work, and the arts activities of specific community groups from a variety of sources; investment directly attracted by seed funding from NRF to support the culturally-diverse arts sector in Manchester. | Consequently CAN has been able to plan and deliver its services strategically over several years – Exodus has been supported for three years by Arts Council England North West, allowing the project to evolve and mature. The Urban Music Theatre Programme, which is generously supported by the Big Lottery Fund and The Paul Hamlyn Foundation engages with young people from Manchester’s indigenous and refugee communities, promoting creativity, confidence, integration and mutual respect.

Based in the Northern Quarter of Manchester City Centre, CAN is an arts development organisation that works in partnership with communities, the voluntary sector, agencies and artists to encourage, develop, produce and promote cultural programmes of work by people who are excluded or on the fringes of mainstream society.

The Exodus Greater Manchester Refugee Arts Partnership is led by Community Arts North West and includes Refugee Action, In Place of War (Manchester University Applied Theatre Department), Manchester Refugee Support Network, MARIM (Multi Agency for Refugee Integration in Manchester) and Salford Museum and Art Gallery

Exodus, CAN’s flagship programme undertook its second full year of activity in 2006-2007. The key events during this year were: the second Exodus Festival in Hulme Park in June, where approximately 5,000 people were en- tertained by 230 artists from many refugee and asylum-seeker groups and were offered the best in national cuisine from new migrant communities • Exodus Onstage, a majorplatform for both professionally developed andparticipatory theatre which took place in sevenvenues across Greater Manchester • Exodus Shorts,a second evening of films at the Cornerhouse •the Exodus Traineeship, designed to develop workshop leadership skills amongst refugee artists. Five artists successfully completed the course and have gone on to find work within the sector • Exodus in Greater Manchester, a pilot pro-gramme which has begun to engage with the many refugee and asylum-seekers that have been dispersed throughout the County. Activity was concentrated on working with partners in Bolton and Wigan, leading to performances by participants from both communities in Exodus Onstage • Exodus Live, a further evening of music at the Life Café • On-going support with 30 refugee artists and groups receiving over 50 one-to-one capacity-building sessions. Exodus continues to encourage integration and cohesion, providing a platform and visibility for refugee arts in Greater Manchester. The Festival and the Onstage theatre season have provided significant opportunities for refugees and asylum-seekers to show cultural production to the mainstream. ‘It gives me some sort of remem-bering my own country … this is my musical background … I am living in this country but these things give me an energy, to help me’ Festival performer Originally from Afghanistan

CAN IS PROUD TO HAVE UNDERTAkEN SIGNIFICANT AND SUBSTANTIVE WORk WITH NEW MIGRANT COMMUNITIES DURING 2006-2007, GIVING VOICE TO THE MANY REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEkERS LIVING WITHIN GREATER MANCHESTER.

awards finalists

www.can.uk.com

‘Our refugee communities bring a significant cultural richness to our region. Exodus helps to provide opportunities for some extraordinary artists in Greater Manchester who might not otherwise get the profile and attention they deserve’ Michael Eakin Executive Director, Arts Council England North West

The Exodus Festival

The Exodus Festival took place on 24th June 2006. It was a unique celebration of arts and culture by Greater Manchester’s diverse refugee communities, including high-quality World Music, dance, interactive workshops, children’s activities, international food, a vibrant site decorations project, and a World crafts and clothing market.

The Exodus Festival doubled in size from the previous year with two stages, 27 groups from 18 nationalities participating, eight refugee groups cooking food, over 50 stalls present and an audience of over 5,000 people visiting the festival site in Hulme Park.

The event was broadcast all day on ALL FM 96.9 as part of a be spoke refugee radio training project and on BBC Radio Manchester.

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‘Do you know what I think is lovely about it? It’s colourful and it’s easy-going and the loudness is happy, colourful and happy!’Exodus Festival goer Manchester

‘I am Muslim, but I can see people round me from different backgrounds. It is nice to see everyone, for me everyone is the same. We have to understand each other. This earth is not small for us, if we under stand each other, if we love, if we respect each other!’Exodus Festival goer Bosnian food stall

‘Events like this it goes completely against the whole perception of what England and Britain is about, so that’s why we need more events like this’ Exodus Festival goer Hulme, Manchester

Exodus in Greater Manchester

Grassroots consultation with refugee communities in both Bolton and Wigan led to a period of arts development and cultural production involving refugees and asylum-seekers in both boroughs.

In Bolton, consultation and outreach led to the development of a six-week workshop programme produced in association with the Octagon Theatre, where a core group of 20 young refugee and asylum-seekers developed work that featured in Exodus Sketches.

Exodus Sketches showcased the work of the Bolton Group, as well as touring work from other refugee artists based in Manchester.

Working with local service providers Rafiki and Motswako, and with Wigan Youth Service, drumming workshops were provided for young people from diverse backgrounds. These workshops produced work that was featured in These City Streets, performed in the Zion Arts Centre, Hulme as part of Exodus Onstage in December.

In all, 155 participants in Bolton and Wigan worked with eight artists and seven partner organisations on eight events, to an audience of 400 people.

With special thanks to The Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) for supporting Exodus Outreach work in Greater Manchester.

‘We had a great time today. We worked as a team with the cast and crew and it really paid off, the hard work that we did. And really it proved that the Rafiki group has infinite potential – great day today!’Sianne, 16 Originally from Zimbabwe

The Exodus Traineeship for Refugee Artists ran between July and December 2006 and developed workshop skills amongst refugee artists.

The need for the scheme was two fold; although refugee artists demonstrated existing high-level cultural production skills across many art forms, they lacked specific workshop-based experience. Conversely, mainstream organisations, such as museums and schools were specifically aiming to recruit refugee artists with skills in participatory arts. The scheme aimed to fulfil both needs through a bespoke training, mentoring and placement programme.

Exodus Traineeship for Refugee Artists

Trainees attended 24 day-long seminars where they undertook a diverse range of activities: some practical, such as film-making or using a music studio; others more theoretical such as project planning or studying the dynamics of groups.

Each trainee worked with a mentor and undertook practical placements in participatory projects run by CAN and by other agencies. As a direct result of undertaking the course, trainees have found paid and voluntary work, made lasting connections with other artists and relevant arts and community agencies, and developed their own artistic practice. The Exodus Traineeship was generously supported by The Lankelly Chase Foundation.

ExODUS ONSTAGEA particular achievement this year was Exodus Onstage; a theatre season which ran throughout November 2006. Conceived with a range of partners, including mainstream cultural institutions such as the Royal Exchange Theatre, Exodus Onstage explored human stories from the survivors of war, persecution and forced migration, examining the diverse personal and political narratives behind the hype and media spin.

Exodus Sparks New writing within Exodus Onstage

Exodus Sparks, developed in association with North West Playwrights and Contact Theatre was a forum for new writing from refugees and asylum-seekers.

Working over 17 weeks with a dramaturge and professional writers, participants were encouraged to develop and refine their own scripts. The process was facilitated by readings of work in progress with actors and group discussion. An Arabic play- wright was also employed to help develop scripts and performance techniques with Arabic-speaking participants.

The project culminated in performances of extracts from all scripts by the authors, professional actors and musicians at Contact Theatre in November 2006 and the production of a documentary DVD.

Exodus Live at Life Café

Exodus Onstage culminated in the fourth Exodus Live, a night of World Music at the Life Café, where the emphasis of the evening was celebrating musical talent, rather than refugee or asylum issues. The evening, attended by an audience of 400 people highlighted the huge contribution made to the city’s cultural life by refugees and asylum-seekers.

‘the best night I’ve been to in five years’ … ‘amazing music’ … ‘brings people from different communities together’ … ‘it’s got to be a regular thing!’… ‘fantastic – more please’… ‘can’t wait for the next one!’ Audience Members

‘For us, it allows us to raise our voices and to say our say. We want people to know about what we face, what we see. We want to give refugee and asylum-seekers the chance to develop and to be positive in the country here … integration’ Azeldin El Sharif Participant Exodus Onstage

The season was a vibrant mix of visiting international and nationally-produced professional work and a strong input of locally-produced participatory theatre.

Participants were able to use theatre as a tool for advocacy, disseminating their personal stories to a mainstream audience. The project:

Widened understanding and knowledge of refugee and asylum issues Extended the artistic experience for participants Promoted networking between artists and venues Created a new audience base for the work produced – 13 out of 15 shows

playing to capacity Resulted in positive publicity in all media coverage, a positive response for the

cultural production of refugee communities and an appreciation of Exodus as a vehicle for artistic excellence

Promoted new collaborations with mainstream institutions, such as the Universities of Salford and Manchester

The project presented a series of diverse and high-quality productions for three weeks across seven venues in Manchester, Salford and Bolton and was made possible by support from Arts Council England North West.

www.can.uk.com

(The best thing was) ‘doing street dance, like the routines we made, sometimes I have been the group leader, taking over from the dance tutor.’Jos h Participant

(I’ve learned how) ‘to meet people - now I’m not shy and I can speak to people. My English has got better from doing this.’ Efu a Participant

‘I thought it was absolutely wonderful … what an achievement … It was refined, moving and well-crafted. The dancing was superb – the music extraordinary.’Audience Member

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Urban Music Theatre

CAN was fortunate to secure three-year funding from both the Big Lottery Fund and The Paul Hamlyn Foundation to support the Urban Music Theatre Programme, which will run until 2008. | This programme, developed from CAN’s work with culturally-diverse young people gave the opportunity for participants from indigenous marginalised communities and young refugees to integrate and work together to develop performance across five art-forms: Drama; Music; Street and African Dance; and Digital Art. | Specific art-forms were targeted because of their popularity with young people, particularly from culturally diverse communities and the resulting workshops and rehearsals were enthusiastically and well-attended. | Working closely with skilled practitioners in these areas, 320 young people aged between 6 and 28 years developed new skills, gained confidence and devised a show that integrated work in all art forms. | Practitioners across the five art forms worked with participants over four months to produce an integrated and cohesive performance piece. The resulting show These City Streets was performed as part of the Exodus Onstage theatre season to packed houses in early December. | These City Streets narrated the story of two unaccompanied young people who arrive from West Africa and their experiences within the first 72 hours of being in a new city.

THE TOOLkIT INFORMATION SERVICE

The Toolkit website contains up-to-date information on organisations, networks, training and funding opportunities; and advice in areas such as marketing, successful workshop leadership and event management. In 2006-2007 the website was expanded and updated, and recorded over 3,000 visits with 591 new registrations, providing current and accessible information to its target audience.

www.can.uk.com

www.thetoolkit.net

The Toolkit website was developed in early 2003 by CAN, in partnership with Creative Industries Development Service (CIDS) and Manchester Libraries and Information Service. It was developed in response to the need for information resources that are accessible to local communities and artists developing creative projects and creative enterprises.

Following on from the huge success of the Toolkit website, the project was expanded into the Toolkit Information Service, employing a dedicated Information Worker who continues to offer an e-mail and telephone enquiry service, one-to-one professional development surgeries, capacity-building, Toolkit training and signposting to relevant cultural services and providers.

Significantly, in 2006-2007, the Toolkit offered training oppor-tun ities for 156 artists working within participatory arts, with 16 training sessions run in topics as diverse as becoming self employed, fundraising, tax, marketing, production management and making digital video. It also ran two well- attended networking events in April and November, giving artists the opportunity to meet each other and to find out about art-form network organisations, funding agencies and potential employers.

The Toolkit continues to fulfil an important role within Manchester’s cultural landscape, providing a gateway between people from grass-roots communities and mainstream cultural providers, as well as providing a comprehensive professional development package of support to new and emerging artists.

The development of the Toolkit Information Service continues to make a major impact on CAN as it makes best use of the information coming in and going out of CAN, CIDS and Artsnet for the target group.

The Information Worker gives CAN much-needed increased capacity by managing the information service, freeing up the Artistic Team and Management to concentrate on their specific areas of work and expertise, thus significantly improving the organisation’s overall performance.

The Toolkit is currently under serious threat unless new sources of funding are found to support its future development. Finding sustainable resources for this service is a key challenge for Community Arts North West.

This free information service has made a real impact in helping socially excluded artists and communities in navigating and accessing opportunities for future cultural development.

Cultural Diversity Advisory Group

CDAG is hosted by CAN and is made up of representatives of organisations and individuals from arts and culture, minority ethnic communities, artists, independent and voluntary sector groups and key agencies involved in issues of race and equality. Its mission is to raise the profile of the sector; support information exchange and networking; support training and capacity-building; widen access; and harness the potential of the refugee arts community.

Artsnet is a service hosted by CAN for people employed in, or interested in arts and culture to engage with the wider strategic issues which affect their work, play and quality of life in the City of Manchester. The network is part of the Community Network for Manchester (CN4M) which is the voice of the community and voluntary sector and links to the Manchester Cultural Partnership, on which CAN is also represented independently.

The Manchester Cultural Partnership advises the Local Strategic Partnership on the contribution of culture to Manchester’s Community Strategy and to the Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy; informs priorities for the allocation of NRF for Culture; and monitors and supports the delivery of the City’s Cultural Strategy.

In 2006-2007 CDAG produced four issues of dxn magazine – for the Diversity Exchange Network, which highlights the rich diversity and creativity of the Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) arts sector.

Artsnet

In addition to this role, Artsnet distributed a quarterly full-colour newsletter in 2006-2007 with a total distribution of 2880, reporting on information and opportunities within creative arts within Manchester. It also produced an e-mail listings service which signposts opportunities within the sector, and promoted initially an internet ‘Smart-group’ and then an Artsnet Google-group, as a local forum and signposting service.

Artsnet is a key Toolkit service partner.

www.artsnetmanchester.co.ukartsnet-manchester@googlegroups.com

The financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions of Part VII of the Companies Act 1985 applicable to small companies, were approved by the board of directors on 26th September 2007.

Opinion In our opinion:• the financial statements give a true and fair view in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice applicable to Small Entities of the state of affairs of the charitable company as at 31st March 2006 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure in the year then ended;• the financial statements have been properly prepared in accordance with the Companies Act 1985, and;• the information given in the Directors’ Report is consistent with the financial statements.

DE LA WYCHE TRAVIS & CO.Registered Auditors, Chartered Accountants, 161 Slade Lane, Manchester, M19 2AF 27th September 2007.

A full copy of these accounts is available from Community Arts North West Ltd., Green Fish Resource Centre, 46-50 Oldham Street, Manchester M4 1LE.

Unrestricted funds Restricted funds 2007 2006

Incoming resources from generated funds

Donations and grants 148,083 148,083 133,294

Activities for generating funds

Other income 1,290 1,290 1,645

Bank interest 2,356 2,356 1,385

Incoming resources from charitable activities

Capital grants 2,266 2,266 2,677

Other revenue, grants & fees 520,937 520,937 362,020

Other Income 8,643 8,643 2,000

Total Incoming Resources 151,729 531,846 683,575 503,021

Resources Expended

Charitable Activities 149,119 476,279 625,398 507,435

Governance costs 2,269 2,269 2,132

Total Resources Expended 151,388 476,279 627,667 509,567

Net income for the year 341 55,567 55,908 (6,546)

Funds brought forward at 1st April 2006 52,513 55,501 108,014 114,560

Funds carried forward at 31st March 2007 52,854 111,068 163,922 108,014

Statement of Financial Activities Including income and expenditure account for the year ended 31st March 2007

2007 2006

£ £ £ £

Tangible Fixed Assets 11,514 19,427

Current Assets

Debtors 69,176 97,223

Cash in bank 119,104 161,013

Cash in hand 298 23

188,578 258,259

Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year 36,170 169,672

Net current assets 152,408 88,587

Net Assets 163,922 108,014

Represented by

Unrestricted funds 52,854 52,513

Restricted funds 111,068 55,501

163,922 108,014

Balance Sheetas at 31st March 2007

Management CommitteeDirectorsSue Fletcher ChairRhonda Finlayson Secretary Angela Harris TreasurerTeresa AdesanyaHelen Caplan Martin HazlehurstJoan JohnsonSara Maguire Trupti PatelDave PetersJudith Watson

ObserversZoe Higgens (Manchester City Council)Julie McCarthy (Arts Council England NW)Claire Pickard (Manchester City Council)

key Full and Part-time Staff 2006-2007Cilla Baynes MBE DirectorAmy Cham Digital Arts ManagerMick Chesterfield TechnicianKuljit ‘Kooj’ Chuhan Principal Artistic ManagerBecky Dibben Administrative AssistantKim Haygarth dxn Coordinating EditorIan Marsh Exodus (GM) Artistic ManagerDavid Martin General ManagerDot Lomax CleanerErin McNeaney Exodus CoordinatorMartin Milner Exodus Traineeship CoordinatorDave Morris Finance WorkerLeon Patel Exodus Artistic ManagerAdelle Robinson Toolkit Information WorkerSue Robinson Artsnet CoordinatorDuncan Sackey dxn EditorFaye Salisbury Arts Development ManagerSarah Sayeed Exodus (GM) Artistic ManagerPaul Williams Administrative AssistantYasmin Yaqub Artistic Manager

CAN gratefully acknowledges financial support from: Arts Council England North West; The Association of Greater Manchester Authorities; The Baring Foundation; the Big Lottery Fund; Change-Up; Community Network for Manchester; Creative Industries Development Service; First Light Movies; The Paul Hamlyn Foundation; The Lankelly Chase Foundation; Manchester City Council; Neighbourhood Renewal Fund; North West Playwrights; Refugee Community Development Fund; Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council.

Community Arts North West Green Fish Resource Centre 46-50 Oldham Street Manchester M4 1LE Tel 0161 234 2975 Fax 0161 234 2976 info@can.uk.com www.can.uk.com

Photo credits: Karin Albinsson, Amy Cham, Joel Chester Fildes, Miselo Kunda, Jason Lock, Stacey Potter, Adelle Robinson, Yasmin Yaqub Design by: Reform Creative