WHALE Arts Annual Report 2023 - 2024

Annual Report

2023 - 2024

Contents 1 Welcome 2 About WHALE Arts 3 2019-24 Strategic Plan 4 Highlights 5 Health, Wellbeing & Happiness 6 Economy, Enterprise, Learning & Skills 7 Community, Places & Spaces 8 Partnerships & Networks 9 Funders, Volunteers & Team 10 Finance

Welcome 2024 has been yet another busy and eventful year for WHALE. Perhaps our most significant - but least visible - achievement this year has been the completion of our Community Asset Transfer (to finally own the land our building stands on), supported by the Scottish Land Fund, which secures our building and the future security of WHALE for the years to come. This was a complex and demanding process for our staff team, and a significant step for WHALE. That WHALE continues to thrive in an increasingly precarious and uncertain funding context is testament to our staff team, our freelancers and volunteers, and their ongoing commitment to WHALE, where we are and what we do. Our range of programmes and activities is only possible through this commitment. It’s not always easy and yet again they have gone the extra mile, (and sometimes more), to make WHALE the place it is and I’d like to thank them all on behalf of the WHALE board. This year we said goodbye to Leah Black as our Chief Executive after six years of excellent leadership, particularly through the pandemic. We thank her and wish her well in her new role leading Foundation Scotland’s innovative Regenerative Futures Fund. Our ‘new’ Chief Executive is Kate Griffin, well-known to anyone who knows WHALE, who, after being acting Chief Executive whilst Leah was on secondment, was appointed officially in July. As a board we are delighted with Kate’s appointment and all it means for WHALE’s staff team, members, volunteers and participants.

On a personal note, I am stepping down from the board of trustees and my role as chair of WHALE. I’ve known Wester Hailes all my life: I watched it being built as a small boy; I began my career as an artist aged 17 painting murals in the Calders on a government scheme, and returned as a trustee for WHALE in 2019. Wester Hailes is a place of far greater opportunity now than it was forty years ago, and I think WHALE has played its part in this, and I’m proud to have played a tiny part in supporting WHALE and what we do. I’ve learnt a lot from being part of WHALE and would like to say “thank you” to all our members, volunteers, staff team and other trustees for everything over the last five years.

Dr Andrew McNiven, Chair, WHALE Arts, November 2024

This has been an excellent year for WHALE Arts, the main focus of which has been the successful Community Asset Transfer land purchase. We owe special thanks to the Scottish Land Fund, Kevin Sturgeon at Gillespie McAndrew, the City of Edinburgh Council, local councillors, Architect Akiko Kobayashi, and the entire WHALE Arts community for making this milestone possible. We were delighted to host the Scottish Parliamentary Culture Group for a round table discussion on Culture in Communities and to share our work. We reached record levels of engagement this year, with over 15,000 visitors to WHALE Arts Centre and more than 18,000 participations in our programmes in Wester Hailes and (via our Creative Community Hubs project) across the city, highlighting the depth of community connection and enthusiasm for the diverse programming that WHALE Arts delivers.

We’re developing a Strategic Plan for 2025-2030 with our members, community, partners and participants that will take us forward for the next five years; building our social enterprises, like our Riso-printed cards and the Pod Café; recognising the value of our staff team with improved well-being support, pay and opportunities; reducing our impact on the planet and ensuring that we are continuing to provide a safe, inclusive space where creativity can flourish. These initiatives will help sustain our mission, build the organisation and enrich our community co-produced creative programme.

Thank you to our wonderful community, members, board, volunteers and staff team - a warm welcome to new faces and our thanks and best wishes to Andrew, who has been a wonderful Chair of the WHALE Arts board and to Leah for all she has done for WHALE. Kate Griffin, CEO

About WHALE Arts WHALE Arts is a community-led arts charity and social enterprise, set up by local people in Wester Hailes, Edinburgh in 1992. We connect our community with creative activities through the delivery of projects, programmes and events.

We aim to enhance people’s health, wellbeing and happiness through arts, creativity and innovation and improve people’s economic prospects through developing creative enterprise and community wealth building and learning and skills opportunities.

As a place-based, community charity we work hard with partners to share and celebrate the quality creative and cultural projects that happen in the area. We build upon these successes to inspire and empower our community to continue to demonstrate the power of creativity as a driver of social change.

Our program is a vibrant, community-driven experience that’s always free and open to all, regardless of age, background, or accessibility needs. We offer a dynamic mix of activities that include visual arts, crafting, performance, cooking, gardening, digital skills, therapeutic workshops, community wealth-building, sensory creative play, and much more. From weekly community meals and holiday programmes to exhibitions, shows, and exciting outings, there’s something for everyone.

We partner with local schools, nurseries, social workers, GPs, youth groups, care homes, theatres, galleries, festivals, libraries, and other charitable organisations to deliver engaging, inclusive creative experiences that bring our community together in new and meaningful ways.

Strategic Plan 2019 - 2024 Mission We create the conditions for our community in Wester Hailes to work alongside artists and cultural practitioners to become agents for change who will proactively co-design, participate in, support or lead quality creative activity at all stages of their lives.

Vision Wester Hailes is a creative, thriving, resilient, fair community.

Key Themes Health, Wellbeing & Happiness

Values Equality, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion We welcome everyone and strive to support anyone who wants to participate. We consider equity to be important as well as equality and we tailor our activities accordingly when we can.

Creativity In its broadest sense and placed firmly at the heart of everything we do, we see creativity as a way of unlocking self-expression, problem-solving, learning and joy.

Openness We encourage generosity, kindness and facilitate the sharing of ideas.

Tenacity We are brave and ambitious for ourselves as an organisation and for the people we work with: we foster resilience and resourcefulness.

Economy, Enterprise, Learning & Skills

Working Together

Places and Spaces

We recognise we are one part of a bigger system and that we will be more successful if we work with others who share our vision.

Development and Improvement Data, Design, Evaluation, Innovation

Innovation AND Continuity

Communication, Conversation, Co-production

We celebrate and sustain initiatives but balance this with taking risks and trying new things.

Highlights

5043 People attended

18413

Our Highest Ever!

176

Participations

468

Holiday, Partnership & One-off Events

15130

Regular sessions in which

487 People of all ages & abilities participated

79

people visited WHALE Arts

Volunteers contributed

895 Hours of their time to support us

“The minute I walk through the door I feel welcomed and I just want to smile.”

Health, Wellbeing & Happiness Our Health, Wellbeing, and Happiness initiative offers a diverse range of regular groups, events, workshops, and collaborative projects. At its core, we focus on promoting positive wellbeing through the power of creativity. This means helping to reduce anxiety, depression, and feelings of social isolation, while boosting self-confidence, selfesteem, and fostering stronger social connections.

By building positive relationships and a deeper sense of purpose within the community, we're dedicated to supporting individuals on their journey to a healthier, happier life.

This year, our groups have grown stronger as participants become friends and take pride in supporting each other.

“WHALE Arts gives me support and respect. Everyone is always welcoming and it has opened doors for me.” smARTcraft Participant

Key Highlights We ran a summer programme for participants to learn new skills —like risograph printing, decoupage, sewing, and clay work— and connect with others across groups. Feedback was positive, with participants enjoying both the skills and new connections.

We gave all the participants the chance to exhibit their work in WHALE Arts by giving each group their own exhibition.

Participants got the chance to take part in Artist Daniel Silver’s project Head’s Up which was exhibited at the Fruitmarket Gallery.

In Open Studio, a participant skilled in crochet was supported to share her knowledge with three others, who then passed the skill on to their friends and family.

In 2022, we sadly lost Anne, a founding member of the Stitch’N’Time group, to cancer. Inspired by her memory, the group made drain bags for a hospice and hosted a coffee morning at WHALE Arts, raising £500 for Macmillan Cancer Care through stalls, refreshments, and homemade items.

We hosted a Christmas lunch for all Arts and Wellbeing Programme participants, providing a chance for everyone to build friendships, share ideas, and have some festive fun.

The Men’s Makers group enjoyed a wood-turning lesson during a trip to Edinburgh Open Workshop, which led us to purchase a lathe to support their continued skill development in wood turning.

“I didn’t really think art would be my kind of thing, but I came along to give it a try. Now I come twice a week. I have amazed myself and have made things that I feel so proud of.”

Economy, Enterprise, Learning & Skills We design and deliver projects aimed at developing skills, fostering creative learning, and supporting the growth of microbusinesses and enterprises. These projects are co-created with community members to build on their existing talents and interests.

Our SmARTies group engaged over 50 children (ages 6-12), building their skills, confidence, and creative problem-solving abilities through diverse activities and trips. Working with local schools and nurseries we supported young people to come to WHALE Arts to experience the magic of live theatre with performances of ‘ Ginger’, ‘The Good the Bad and the Poultry’, ‘Boxed Up’ and ‘PRISM’. We provided development and rehearsal time to support and nurture artists and theatre makers and were able to offer schools, families and relaxed performances of pieces devised especially for children with additional support needs and early years.

We delivered 105 sessions at WHALE Arts and Clovenstone Community Centre, supporting 34 participants in our Adult Digital Skills Programme.

Topics included device troubleshooting, email, online banking, and college support.

Key Highlights Our partnership with Manipulate Arts included making an animation for a showreel at The One Bum Cinema.

We worked with Stories Untold to deliver ‘Boxed Up’, a fantastic show we shared with our children and young people, schools and nurseries.

We launched an exciting new partnership project with Prospect offering one-to-one support for their most digitally-excluded tenants, as well as took part in a community of learning with other digital support organisations from across Scotland.

55 different people from 17 different cultural backgrounds attended Empowered Enterprise courses and events.

We supported placements for students from Edinburgh College, Queen Margaret, Napier and Edinburgh University.

Everyone is so nice here, I’ve learned a lot.

I got this laptop from a friend but it was just gathering dust.

I never thought I would use it and now I’m on it every night.”

Our Enterprising activities this year included our Culture Collective Project: Create Community Wealth which supported participants to develop products and services and access selling platforms such as Ocean Terminal, Castle Street markets, and more. They held artist exhibitions and project showcase events at Granton Hub, WHALE and North Edinburgh Arts and went on a residential trip to Dumfries to visit and explore artists collectives.

Empowered Enterprise which followed on from the Create Community Wealth project focused on further specific skills development sessions including digital design, marketing and social media, product pricing and photography, business and financial planning. The project offered short courses, networking evenings with invited inspirational speakers, peer-support sessions and 1:1 sessions. Translation services were available and a creative play space for children was delivered in partnership with Starcatchers to provide childcare.

As part of the Empowered Enterprise project, we opened our Pod Café space for peer-support sessions and a space for workshops, providing hot food and drinks to all participants.

Pod Press, our community riso printing press, collaborated with our regular programme and freelance illustrators to create prints for sale. SmARTcraft produced festive cards and Open Studio participants created postcards inspired by a drawing trip around town. These designs are for sale in the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh Printmakers, Scottish Design Exchange, Leith Collective & CCA Glasgow.

“I’d advise anyone to come to WHALE and be a big part of our family, because that’s what we are, we’re a big happy family here and honestly I do love it!”

WHALE Arts Member

“WHALE Arts is helping communities improve lives.”

Empowered Enterprise participant

Community, Places & Spaces We were delighted to complete our Community Asset Transfer (CAT) in Spring 2024 and are now the owners of the land our building stands on. This has been a long process involving extensive consultation and the support of the Scottish Land Fund to get to completion. Outreach and activities are a key part of our programme and we work closely with our members to develop our organisation.

Our monthly Members Meetings and meals provided a forum for members to share their ideas and suggestions for trips and activities with our Community Development Team.

In response to this feedback, we organised some fun and exciting trips from Fringe Shows to Flamenco Perfomances over the course of the year for our Members and continued our popular programme of monthly Members’ Coffee Mornings and Community Walks.

Places and spaces include our outreach and community development work but also our own community garden, community meal and numerous related events and activities including our Film and Food nights, which bring people together on the cold winter nights for a warm meal and some family-friendly entertainment.

With a huge effort from our Community Garden Coordinator the WHALE Arts garden has been transformed, into a vibrant, lush and beautiful space for activities, volunteering and growing and engaged 79 fantastic corporate and regular volunteers who helped with clearing paths, weeding beds, painting planters, and generally supporting our programme.

In conjunction with our community meal and community garden, we celebrated special events such as Scottish Apple Day and Tree Dressing Day with delicious food and creative activities.

Partnerships & Networks We were very honoured to be asked to host one of two Local Place Plan Learning Events, in partnership with Community Land Scotland, Kinning Park Complex and Wester Hailes Community Trust, which brought together members of communities from across Scotland to share their experiences and perceptions of the Local Place Plan process.

Our Creative Community Hubs project is a network of citywide organisations who work with their local communities to deliver creative and cultural activity led by the interests and needs of local people.

‘Funding Communities Better’ publication was launched to share our action research on culture in communities funding models. We were pleased to become a Strategic Partner of City of Edinburgh Council who are funding this work and our CCH team. The hubs are Out of the Blueprint, Granton Hub, Duncan Place Resource Centre, North Edinburgh Arts, The Old Town Community Trust, Craigmillar Now, and Lyra.

Hubs Leads Tiki Muir and Morvern Cunningham gave a presentation with Edinburgh University and Bristol’s Rising Arts Agency on ‘Envisioning Futures for Creative Economies: Language and Power’ Creative Economies Conference at Bristol University, where they shared WHALE Arts and the Creative Community Hubs Work with attendees from across the UK and Europe.

We continue to Co-Chair the Living Well Wester Hailes Forum and are key partners in Go Beyond, a South West Edinburgh networks partnership project with Space at the Broomhouse Hub and Big Hearts.

In addition we worked with local partners including SCOREscotland, Wester Hailes Community Trust, With Kids, The Health Agency, Edinburgh Growing Together, Community Wellbeing Collective, and About Youth as part of the Wester Hailes Together Collaborative group. Locally we took part in Calders Easter Egg Hunt and Summer Celebration Days’ along with other community events and activities with face-painting and arts & craft activities for all ages.

We partnered with Napier University on a practice-based research project which looked at local young people’s perceptions of place, which used a series of fun and accessible creative outreach workshops to explore their experiences of and feelings about where they live and where they’ve been.

Creative Informatics supported us with a grant from their Community Technology Fund and practical advice and input, allowing us to source a CRM system to manage our data, upgrade our Wi-Fi and create accessible building space and laptops for digital sessions. We were pleased to partner with Creative Informatics on research into the benefits of the Fund shared with other academic institutions.

We were delighted Event Management students from Edinburgh College nominated WHALE Arts as recipients for their charity fundraising event Urban Creative at Leith Arches. The event featured street artists painting murals, DJ’s, Hip Hop, market stalls (attended by CCW group members) and art cube drawing sessions.

Our ongoing partnerships with creative and cultural organisations included: a Community Family Fun Day with Edinburgh Fringe.

Manipulate Arts ‘Animate’ Partnership Project with performances, workshops and activities across the year.

Performances and activities for children and families with Starcatchers and Sistema Big Noise Wester Hailes.

‘Words and Stories’ with Edinburgh International Book Festival, which involved creative writing sessions at WHALE Arts followed by live readings at the Book Festival.

‘An exceptional example of good practice within community arts’ Scottish Parliament Culture Committee

Thank You! Our Partners About Youth Art in Healthcare Big Hearts Business Fives Calders Residents Association Canal View Primary School Clovenstone Community Centre Clovenstone Primary School Community Land Scotland Community Wellbeing Collective Craigmillar Now Duncan Place Community Hub Edinburgh Community Food Edible Estates Edinburgh Art Festival Edinburgh Book Festival Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society Edinburgh International Science Festival Edinburgh Napier University Edinburgh Tool Library Edinburgh University: GroundsWell Team Creative Informatics Edinburgh College of Art EVOC

Fruitmarket Gallery Granton Hub Grass Roots Remedies Heriot–Watt University Living Well Wester Hailes Lyra National Galleries of Scotland North Edinburgh Arts Open Book Out of The Blueprint Open University Passion4Fusion Prospect Community Housing Manipulate Arts Room for Art Royal Lyceum Theatre SCOREscotland Scottish Poetry Library Sighthill Primary School Space and Broomhouse Hub Starcatchers Stories Untold Productions The Crannie (EOTDT) The Health Agency The Youth Agency Theiya Arts Tortoise in a Nutshell Wester Hailes Community Trust Wester Hailes Library With Kids

Our Funders Scottish Government Lothian Buses City of Edinburgh Council William Grant Foundation Creative Informatics William Syson Foundation Youthlink Scotland Bauer Media (Radio Forth) Edinburgh Airport Bentley Trust Mickel Fund Creative Scotland R S Macdonald People's Postcode Trust SCVO Kiran's Trust Robertson Trust One City Trust Cruden Foundation Foyle Foundation Walker Shoolbraid Charitable Trust Culra Charitable Trust Scott Davidson Charitable Trust The Gladys Wightwick Charitable Trust Binks Trust Nimar Charitable Trust Mbili Charitable Trust

“It’s really nice seeing everybody enjoying each other's company, even though there might be a language barrier – the food brings everyone together.” WHALE Volunteer

“I’ve done a lot of volunteering in my life but WHALE is one of the good ones – it’s brought me such a lot of happiness” WHALE Volunteer Board of Trustees Allan McNaughton Andrew McNiven Ceri Hughes Charlotte Binstead Emily Stevenson Eunice Main Evelyn Dunlop Kenneth Fowler Min Leng Neil Finlayson Sarah Pryde

Corporate volunteers Dentsu Creative Edinburgh Napier - Craiglockhart Campus Pfizer Scottish Water

Staff (2023-present)

Local volunteers

Anna Nicolson Craig Tyrie Chantal Auguste Elaina Garcia Eleanor Mumford Emma McDowall Em Thompson Eva McKenzie Fabien Merville Fin Ross Russell Helen Leigh Kat Prior Kate Griffin Kirsty Frankland Laura Tyrrell Laurie Barbour Leah Black Michael Bowdidge Michael Collin Michelle Robson Piotr Kolasinski Susan Gibson Tiki Muir Zoë Squair

Abbie Collins Alex Edward Allan McNaughton Andrew McNiven Ceri Hughes Charlotte Binstead Daisy Campbell Emily Stevenson Eunice Main Fabien Merville John Lau Keisha Lancaster Kenneth Fowler Louize Gibson Mairi Edwards Maryam Haghbin Neil Finlayson Nila Joshi Paul Barnwell Phoebe Yip Sade Adams Sarah Kelly Sarah Pryde Shirley-Ann May Shona Cook Sibongile Nkala Susan Gibson Zoé Brown

Freelance artists, advisors, support workers and youth workers Angela Austin Banks Anna Maxwell Asia Jaworska-Dorozynska Bob Winton Conor O'Donnell Cori Lamond Chloe McHardy Debbie Wright Gemma Smith Juulia Kalavainen Julia Davies Julie Przyborski Katy Wilson Katie Quinn Kat Prior Kirstin Cunningham-Abrahams Lillian Shipton Liz Waterston Louize Gibson Marie Williamson Mark Carr Matthew Keys Max Alexander Mhairi Braden Michael Bowdidge Morvern Cunningham Oliver Benton Pandora Vaughan

Rosalind Sanderson Rosalie Williamson Roz McAndrew Sara Guerrero-Mostafa Tonya McMullen Will Thorburn Yvonne Bostock

Annual report images: WHALE staff Ollie Benrton Kat Gollock

“Find happiness, peace and confidence here” WHALE Arts Member

Financial Summary Statement of Financial Activities for the Period Ending 31 March 2024

Income

2024

2023

Donations

£17,207

£12,162

Grants

£904,681

£698,745

Rental & Admin Charges

£56,567

£48,683

Fees & Other Income

£71,439

£43,093

Income from Other Activities Investment Income

£61

£60

£2,269

£878

Defined Pension Benefit Scheme (Losses)/ Gains )

(£131)

£1482

Net Movement in Funds Reserves

£102,165

(£123,253)

Unrestricted Funds General

£226,063

£160,075

Unrestricted Funds Designated

£nil

£20,054

£325,365

£386,199

£655,766

£538,701

Restricted Funds Non-Capital

Expenditure Project Activities & Core Premises Costs

£912,261

£897,478

Raising Funds

£37,667

£30,878

Restricted Funds

An Independent Audit was carried out by Whitelaw Wells for the Financial Year to 31st March 2024