ANNUAL REPORT 2022/23
WHALE Arts
We are WHALE Arts - a dynamic, communitydriven charity and social enterprise, connecting our community to inspiring projects, programmes and events. We bridge the gap between Wester Hailes and the wider creative world by teaming up with local, city & and national partners. We are dedicated to inspiring, up-skilling and empowering our people - workers, artists, volunteers and participants, by harnessing the transformative power of creativity and embracing it as a driver of positive social change.
PHOTO CREDITS:
Bob Winton
Megan Davies
Julie Howden
Ollie Benton
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.
MISSION
Wester Hailes is a creative, thriving, resilient, fair community.
VISION
Creativity, Innovation & Continuity - Equality, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion - Openness, Tenacity and Working Together.
VALUES
Trustee Reflection
2023 has been another busy year for WHALE Arts and one in which we have continued to thrive. Having celebrated 30 years of our existence, we are close to completing our Community Asset Transfer (to own the land our building stands on), supported by the Scottish Land Fund, and we were delighted to receive a commendation from the Scottish Parliament for our work developing and delivering creative programmes in Wester Hailes over thirty years. Looking forward, over the next year we will be working on developing our strategy, an important aspect of our long-term planning and I look forward to working with the board, our staff team, members and participants in this process, and to use this to strengthen WHALE’s overall position as the cultural anchor for Wester Hailes. The last few years have been very difficult for all arts organisations; the lingering effects of the pandemic and governmental austerity, a major cost-of-living crisis, and a much higher level of competition for the limited resources available to the sector. It is a challenging context to which WHALE Arts and our committed and professional staff team and volunteers have risen to brilliantly over the last year. WHALE Arts continues to maintain and to extend the high standard of activity and opportunity for all our members and participants that we know is valued so highly. I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of the board, to thank wholeheartedly all the WHALE Arts team for their leadership, hard work and commitment to what makes WHALE Arts so valuable to our communities.
Dr Andrew McNiven: Chair, WHALE Arts
We were delighted to welcome over 14,000 people to WHALE Arts in 22/23 and to see our community having fun, being supported, building friendships, learning skills and getting creative! Our Programme built on our partnerships and networks - with Puppet Animation Scotland we brought the spectacular Swings show, AnimATE cooking and animation day and Hibernate and Ginger performances. We hosted a fantastic Edinburgh Fringe Community Day, and events and activities with Edinburgh Art Festival and our tenant partners Starcatchers, Sistema, SCOREscotland and Theiya Arts. Working together with local partners we supported the community with the challenges of the cost of living crisis, offering health and wellbeing activities, energy vouchers, warm packs and our weekly community meal. We too saw our costs rise and demand for our services increase so we are working hard to create a sustainable basis for our finances and looking to the future with our Community Asset Transfer and the next 30 years of WHALE Arts. Many thanks to our wholehearted staff team, artists, volunteers and community members for their dedication, inspiration and enthusiasm without whom we would not be able to make the difference we do.
Kate Griffin Interim CEO WHALE Arts
CEO Reflection
WHALE Arts HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2022-23 14,066 people visited WHALE Arts
We delivered 2000 hours of engaging activities
We delivered 533 regular creative sessions in which
635 takeaway’s
We made 1552 Community meal portions
646 people of all ages and abilities participated 917 sit-down meals
1210 people participated We worked with 2253 young people
in 134 holiday, partnership & one-off events at WHALE Arts and other community venues
35% of participants identify as Global Majority (BAME)
and 2998 adults
19% of participants identify as disabled
STRATEGY & THEMES
Health Wellbeing & Happiness Economy Enterprise Learning & Skills Community Places & Spaces Partnerships & Networks
Digital Engagement
Health Wellbeing & Happiness Our Health Wellbeing & Happiness strand encompasses our Arts & Wellbeing Programme, Young People & Families, Accessible Arts, Events, special sessions and partnership projects. We aim to promote positive wellbeing through engagement with the creative process, to facilitate improved confidence and self-esteem, positive relationships and sense of purpose within the community.
Key Highlights We brought our accessible arts programme into the Arts & Wellbeing programme creating a continuum of care for young people with ASN as they transition into adulthood We added a second Smartcraft group for adults with ASN, to cope with increased demand Play Sense Create/Explore supported young people with ASN and their families to develop new skills, build confidence and make new friends. Participants explored messy art, sensory play, music, film, photography and character-based performance work as part of a bespoke package of delivery
Let’s Play Wester Hailes supported local children to create games inspired by their local area. Working in partnership with Napier University School of Computing the project engaged 132 young people, delivered 50 sessions, and over 450 Participations Art in the Open delivered sessions at Clovenstone House and had a significant impact on residents living with dementia including increased verbal communication, concentration and fine motor skills 51 people attended our Open Studio sessions making it one of the most popular groups we have 431 children and staff from local primary schools attended free performances and workshops including - Gingerbread and Hibernate from Tortoise in a Nutshell and Once Upon A Snowstorm from Lyra
“Amazing, beyond anything I could have imagined. It’s impossible for us to do this normally due to transport, ticket costs and staffing but you have provided everything. I can’t believe the children even get a gingerbread person to decorate and eat! Thank you!” Teacher local Primary School
Economy Enterprise Learning & Skills Through our Economy Enterprise Learning & Skills strand, we create and deliver projects that focus on skills development, creative learning, and micro-business/enterprise growth. These projects are co-designed with community members to leverage their existing skills and interests.
Key Highlights Adult Digital Skills delivered over 90 drop-in sessions at WHALE Arts & Clovenstone Community Centre supporting 39 people in enhancing their digital skills Smarties supported over 50 children aged 6-12 to develop their skills, confidence, and creative problem-solving abilities by engaging them in a range of creative activities and trips to Edinburgh Zoo, Camera Obscura and Jupiter Artland Partnerships with Puppet Animation Scotland, All or Nothing, Starcatchers and SCOREscotland resulted in a fantastic holiday programme attracting over 150 people
Pod Press - our community Riso Printing Press delivered workshops for students at Edinburgh College, an away day for GPs at Wester Hailes Medical Practice, design and print sessions for Mums into Business and a series of commissions for partner organisations, and community groups Mum’s into Business member Sindy Santos set up her own shop in Dunfermline
The Create Community Wealth project engaged participants in sessions covering intention setting, business plannning, jewelry and cushion making. Participants sold products at markets in Wester Hailes Library and Ocean Terminal Create Community Wealth launched the first round of Micro Grants with 20 people being awarded grants of up to £500
“The markets have been a great experience for me. Learning quickly, we all are. What’s important is that we are open and supportive towards each other in our creative journeys moving forward, and as Julie says, focusing on how to make our products more accessible through social media outlets.” Create Communtiy Wealth participant
Community Places & Spaces Community Places & Spaces is at the heart of WHALE Arts providing a vibrant and inclusive platform for community members to connect, collaborate, and express their creativity. This strand incorporates our membership, our community meal, community garden, community Asset Transfer and the wide range of outreach work that we engage with.
Key Highlights In August 2022 we celebrated WHALE Arts’ 30 Birthday Wester Hailes Canal Connections Trail marked the Union Canal’s bicentenary and its relationship to Wester Hailes We reached the 100 members milestone! Our Members have been involved with the CAT (Community Asset Transfer), the re-design of our branding, and the ongoing development of our community café: The Pod We hosted the fourth annual Wester Hailes Open exhibition showing work by local artists
Our weekly community meal churned out an epic 1552 portions of food Cook it Up Eat it Up delivered a series of cooking workshops for families in Wester Hailes in partnership with Tasting Change 39 Volunteers contributed a total of 908 volunteering hours to supporting cooking, gardening, creative and other activities at WHALE Members and other Wester Hailes residents recorded their stories in the Tales From The Hailes podcast all about community wellbeing - A collaboration with Edinburgh Art Festival as part of the Community Wellbeing Collective WHALE members and participants took part in an Open Mic event featuring songs, poetry, and reminiscences about life in Wester Hailes in years gone by Street Arts our long-running youth arts outreach programme worked with over 300 young people across Wester Hailes, building confidence, connnections and resilience
“It felt amazing, like being an ambassador for Wester Hailes” WHALE Arts Member
Partnerships & Networks Partnerships & Networks represent the thread that connect us to a wider world of collaborative possibilities, allowing us to extend our creative reach and impact, and building bridges with partners leads to vibrant networks that breathe life into our collective aspirations.
Key Highlights The Creative Community Hubs Network secured further funding and expanded the network to include 8 partner hubs across 6 distinct areas of Edinburgh Working Better Together, a report focusing on power dynamics in partnership working between creative community hubs and cultural institutions was published by the Creative Community Hubs project We partnered with Creative Informatics on their Community Creative Tech Fund, representing over £110K of capital investment for datadriven creative community projects in Edinburgh and South East Scotland
Creative Community Hub’s Project Leads Tiki Muir (WHALE Arts) and Morvern Cunningham (freelance creative) contributed to a roundtable event Envisioning Futures for Creative Economies: Language and Power at the Creativity Knowledge Cities Conference New Futures for Creative Economies in Bristol in March 2023 Go Beyond, our South West initiative for grassroots Community Wealth building continued to expand and develop. We organized events with community members, partners, and local authority staff, collaborating with Police Scotland, Prospect Housing, and Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership We continued active participation in Living Well Wester Hailes, a local stakeholder network promoting partnership across the community We deepened our relationship with Wester Hailes Community Trust to develop and launch the Wester Hailes Local Place Plan We continued involvement in the Seven Kingdoms project with Napier University, emphasizing the importance of collaborative partnerships in our mission to empower local residents And continued collaborations with long-standing partners, Starcatchers, SCOREscotland, Sistema, The Heath Agency, Prospect Housing & Edinburgh Art Festival
Digital Engagement Our digital engagement and statistics represent a vital window into our impact and outreach. In this section, we delve into the numbers and trends that reflect our online presence and the ever-evolving ways we connect with our community, offering insights into the dynamic world of data-driven engagement
Key Highlights 12,043 - Unique Website Users 31,293 - Web Page Views 52,672 - Facebook Reach 2118 - Instagram Profile Visits 3390 - Newsletter Views
2 0 2 2
Art therapy with the Tea Pot trust
Mums into Business Riso design & Print Sessions
Sprog Rock Family outdoor pizza day Smarties trip to Jupiter ArtLand
EAF Partnership Canal Festival
Allotment sessions with Sprog Rock + volunteers
Pizza Party
WHALE Art’s 30th Birthday Party
Summer
Spring
2 0 2 3
Street Arts summer of fun
Fringe Festival at WHALE
The Good, The Bad & The Poultry
Members trip to the V&A
MIB members visiting Sindy Shop
Launching the Working Better Together report CCW 1st Wester Hailes Market
Giant SWINGS
Unicorn Dance Party
WHALE Arts re-brand
Stitch ‘N’ Time’s aprons for the Pod cafe
South Asian Women’s Digital Drop-ins
Ella’s Wobble
Adult Art Groups trip to Dovecot Studios
Pod Press commission for the Community Wellbeing Collective
Pod Cafe launches at WHALE Arts
Ginger Chrirstmas Show
Art in the Open at Clovenstone House
Autumn
Winter
Spring
Men’s Makers trips to Open Workshop
WHALE 30 years archive exhibition
Let’s Create exhibiting in the Head’s Up Exhibition
Fourth Wester Hailes Open Exhibition
Once Upon a Snowstorm
1552 community meal portions
Traveling Gallery visits WHALE Arts
Christmas Meal for Adult Arts & Wellbeing groups
THANK YOU TO
Our Partners About Youth All or Nothing Art in Healthcare - Room for Art Big Hearts Business Fives Calders Residents Association Canal View Primary School Clovenstone Community Centre Clovenstone Primary School Craigmillar Now Creative Informatics Community Wellbeing Collective Dove Centre Duncan Place Community Hub Edinburgh Community Food Edinburgh Art Festival Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society Edinburgh Science
Edinburgh Napier University Edinburgh Tool Library Fruitmarket Gallery Granton Hub Grass Roots Remedies Living Well Wester Hailes Lyra Murrayburn Primary School North Edinburgh Arts National Galleries of Scotland Open Book Out of the Blueprint Passion4Fusion Push The Boat Out Prospect Community Housing Puppet Animation Scotland Royal Lyceum Theatre SCOREscotland
Scottish Poetry Library Sighthill Primary School Sistema Space and Broomhouse Hub Starcatchers Teapot Trust The Crannie (EOTDT) The Health Agency The Youth Agency Theiya Arts Tortoise in a Nutshell Wester Hailes Community Trust Wester Hailes Library
THANK YOU TO
Our Funders ABC Foundation Bank of Scotland Capital City Partnership City of Edinburgh Council Cordis Charitable Trust Creative Scotland Dentons UKMEA LLP Charitable Trust DTAS Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership EVOC Forsyth Walker Graham Fund Henry Smith Charity Inchyre Trust Lothian Buses Foundation National Records of Scotland Nimar Charitable Trust NHS Lothian Peoples Postcode Trust Robertson Trust
Scott Davidson Charitable Trust Scottish Children’s Lottery Trust Scottish Land Fund Scottish Government Investing in Communities Sutherland, Sabina, Charitable Trust The McGlashan Trust The Mushroom Trust The National Lottery Community Fund The Santander Foundation Thrive Edinburgh UK Government CEC University of Edinburgh/ Groundworks Walker Shoolbraid Charitable Trust W G Forsyth Fund William Grant Foundation William Syson Charitable Foundation
THANK YOU TO
Our Incredible Team Our Staff Craig Tyrie Dawn Borthwick Elaina Garcia Fabien Merville Gemma Smith Helen Leigh Kate Griffin Kirsty Frankland Laura Delahunt Laura Tyrrell Laurie Barbour Leah Black Lorna Baxter Michael Bowdidge Michelle Robson Rebecca Livingstone Roz Shah Susan Gibson
Tiki Muir Verity Combe Shirin Karbor
New staff in 2023 Chantal Auguste Emma McDowell Fin Ross Russell Laurie Barbour
Board of Trustees Allan McNaughton Andrew McNiven Charlotte Binstead Emily Stevenson Eunice Main Grant Williams Kenneth Fowler Neil Finlayson Ross Campbell
Our Volunteers Abbie Collins Alex Edwards Allan McNaughton Amy Smith Andrew McNiven Brodie Anderson Charlotte Binstead Clara Spence Dawn Taylor Derek Balfour Ellie Dunlop Ellie Watson Emily Stevenson JJ Fadaka Eunice Main Fabien Merville Finlay Maclean Gian Kaur Grant Williams Harriet Dodd John Lau
Kenneth Fowler Kitione Rawalai Leah Marchbank Leonie Kirk Louize Gibson Lucy Reynolds Maryam Haghbin Neil Finlayson Nila Joshi Phoebe Yip Rosalie Williamson Ross Campbell Sasha Bonewell Shirley Ann May Shona Cook Susan Gibson
Our Freelancers Angela Austin Banks Anna Maxwell Asia Jaworska-Dorozynska Bob Winton
Conor O'Donnell Cori Lamond Debbie Dr Tom Flint Gemma Smith Juulia Kalavainen Julia Davies Julie Przyborski Katy Wilson Kat Prior Kirstin CunninghamAbrahams Lillian Shipton Liz Waterston Louize Gibson Marie Willamson Marion Preez Mark Carr Matthew Keys Max Alexander Mhairi Braden
Morgan Njobo Morvern Cunningham – Oliver Benton Pandora Vaughan Rene Sommer Lindsay Rosalind Sanderson Rosalie Williamson Roz McAndrew Sindy Santos Tanatsei Gambura Tonya McMullen Will Thorburn Yvonne Bostock
FINANCIAL SUMMARY
Statement of Financial Activities for the Period Ending 31 March 2023 INCOME
2023
2022
Donations
£12,162
£27,234
Grants
£698,745
£601,216
Rental and Admin Charges
£48,683
£43,252
Fees and Other Income
£43,093
£14,912
Income from other activities
£60
£51
Investment Income
£878
TOTAL
£803,621
£686,665
EXPENDITURE Project Activities & Core
£897,478
£605,043
Raising Funds
£30,878
£29,991
TOTAL
£928,356
£635,034
Premises Costs
2023
2022
£1,482
(£18,951)
NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS RESERVES
£123,253
(£32,680)
Unrestricted Funds General
£160,075
£176,805
Unrestricted Funds Designated
£20,054
£26,734
Restricted Funds Non-Capital
£386,199
£481,968
Restricted Funds Capital
£538,701
£542,775
DEFINED PENSION BENEFIT SCHEME GAINS (LOSSES)
An Independent Audit was carried out by Whitelaw Wells for the Financial Year to 31st March 2023