Who we are
Crave Arts was established in 2020 as a not for profit company limited by guarantee. The company has two Directors; Steve Wilson and Debbie Birch. We have over 40 years’ experience between us of managing and delivering arts and heritage projects and initiatives. We have both worked at senior levels in local government, as sole traders and for charities. Debbie’s experience is in organisational change, project management, fundraising, training and evaluation in the cultural sector, after starting out in her career as an archivist. Steve’s experience is in project management, fundraising, training, cultural education, writing and performing.
Why Crave Arts?
We are encouraged to crave so many material things in our daily lives. Being sold to and persuaded that each new thing we buy will bring fulfilment and happiness. But does it? Or does it just perpetuate a constant desire to have more, the latest, the best? We see the arts as an antithesis to all that and a way to bring happiness through connection with other people, through a sense of achievement in making and creating something together, and through joy at sharing, through plays, films, and visual arts, the essence of what makes us human.
We want everyone to Crave Arts in their lives!
Both Directors are driven by a desire to enable more people to benefit from engaging with the arts. Through our careers we have been privileged to work with many partners including the Probation service, Worcester Community Trust, with mental health charities and many more.
Crave Arts was established so that we could initiate and lead similar projects.
What we do
Crave Arts was established to:
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provide high quality participatory arts and heritage activities for communities and the wider public
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support people’s health and wellbeing through engagement with the arts and heritage and
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provide specialist support services to those working in or with the arts and heritage sector.
How we do this:
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we apply for funding to deliver creative projects which enrich people's lives. There are often opportunities for artists to work on our projects
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we deliver our work in partnership with other organisations
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we provide services such as evaluation, fundraising, training and business planning to organisations.
Crave Arts has £10m of Public Liability Insurance, both Directors are on the DBS Update service and we require the same of artists who work with us, where appropriate for the project.
Our way of working
Our Vision
We aim to grow people’s confidence and self-worth, provide enjoyment and even create life-changing opportunities through accessible, participatory arts and heritage projects.
Our Values
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CREATIVITY: we believe everyone has the potential to be an artist or creative in the broadest sense – and we believe creativity can bring about positive change
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INCLUSIVITY: we want to keep learning how to remove barriers that may be stopping people from participating, and introduce means to enable participation, valuing everyone’s contributions
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COLLABORATION: we believe aims are best achieved together, and we love to work collaboratively with participants, artists and partners
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CURIOSITY: we are open-minded and we want to listen and learn, and to provide platforms for the stories that people wish to tell
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COMMITMENT: we are motivated, committed and reliable – we deliver.
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Our collaborators
We believe that work is best done in partnership - with other organisations, with artists, with participants.
We are proud to be an Associate Company of Worcester Theatres and to further develop our working relationship with them. We are pleased to be starting a new collaboration with The Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham.
We enjoy working with non-arts organisations, bringing creative activity to their participants, pupils and visitors. We have worked with Worcester Community Trust, LikeU, Regency High School, Ourside Youth Centre, Crowngate Shopping Centre, Worcester Cathedral and we are currently in conversation with Probation about restarting work there which we previously carried out as sole traders on behalf of Severn Arts.
When we receive project funding, we often contract artists and facilitators through our networks and open calls to bring appropriate experience and skills to our projects. We have been privileged to work with artists such as Bohdan Piasecki, Holly Winter-Hughes, Nicola Winstanley, Nicola Prestage (Tiger Features), Sarah Edwards (Spare Room Arts), Paul Milton (Everyman Theatre Cheltenham) and actors including Lee Farley, Susan Doran, Amanda Bonnick, Gareth Price-Baghust, Ashleigh Aston, Sean Merrick and Jonathan Stephens. We are often on the look out for artists - follow our social media to see the latest opportunities.
