One of Scotland’s leading creative arts charities is celebrating three decades of helping people and has now issued a public call to all those involved over the years.
Opening in 1994, Impact Arts has grown to become Scotland’s leading charity that engages people of all ages with creative projects. The organisation has impacted the lives of more than 300,000 people through the course of its 30-year history, and now wants them to share their stories and memories of Impact Arts.
The aim of the charity, started by Susan Aktemal, was to tackle social inequality using creativity and art. Celebrating its three-decade milestone on August 22, the charity has sought to improve the lives of some of Scotland’s most vulnerable people and their communities.
As part of the celebrations, the charity plans to share the stories of the people it has helped.
Fiona Doring, Chief Executive Officer of Impact Arts, said: “Impact Arts was born out of the recognition that taking part in arts and creative activities can be life changing.
“For 30 years we have built on this philosophy to support the people and communities across Scotland, who are least likely to have access to the arts, to tackle the big issues preventing them from achieving their potential.
“Impact Arts has been at the heart of positive change for thousands of people’s lives and as we turn 30, we are taking time to reflect upon and celebrate the stories of all of these individual people for whom engaging in arts projects has been transformational.”
Over the years the charity hasbeen behind hundreds of projects, from large-scale public art to music projects with the likes of Amy Macdonald and Hector Bizerk, live theatre to pop-up cafes, and interior design workshops to creative learning with those in the criminal justice system.
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Early projects included the creation of the Woodlands Mosaic Bollards in Glasgow’s West End in 1997, which continue to bring colour and vibrancy to the area today.
Other community artworks have included the Linkes Mosaic Mural in Knightswood, first created in 2005, and local young people creating stained glass windows to brighten the Pineview Housing Association homes in Drumchapel.
In 2003 Impact Arts launched Fab Pad, which supported hundreds of people at risk of or experiencing homelessness to sustain their tenancies through creative interior design workshops.
The project was delivered right across central Scotland, including at one point taking over a whole floor of the Red Road flats in North Glasgow with a “showroom” and workshop, helping many tenants to transform their homes on a budget while learning valuable new skills. The project ran until 2015 and continues today as Make It Your Own, supporting vulnerable tenants to help transform their home lives.
Today, the charity continues to help people through creative arts from bases in Glasgow Edinburgh, and Irvine. Recent projects include Creative Pathways and CashBack to the Future.
The two programmes alongside several other group initiatives cover a wide demographic that includes helping older communities struggling with social isolation, improving the well-being and attainment of children through art therapy, and empowering teens and young adults by assisting in employment schemes.
Impact Arts will host its 30th anniversary event on Thursday 22 August at their Glasgow headquarters in Merchant City, The Boardwalk. Guests will be able to relive the highlights of past projects and see recent work carried out by the charity.
Anyone who has been involved with the charity is being asked to fill out a form to share their stories or get in touch with them directly.
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