Campaign aims
- To increase the number of people volunteering in the arts and crafts from our target audience.
- To engage and energise disadvantaged and hard-to-reach groups by focusing on the fact that arts and crafts are fun, accessible to all and offer a wide-ranging level of volunteering opportunities.
Target audience
- people aged over 25
- with no formal qualifications
- with a disability and/or limiting long-term illness
- Black and Minority Ethnic groups (specifically Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Chinese)
Campaign delivery
We ran a high-profile marketing and media campaign, using a range of materials (in both English and community languages), web pages and outdoor media space. The centrepiece was a week-long festival in the North East, as well as mini festivals in London, Penrith and Northallerton. Learn Direct and CMHA (Chinese Mental Health Association) ran English and community language helplines, to provide information on local activities and groups in need of volunteers.
Official partnerships with Emap Radio and the Newcastle Chronicle and Journal Group helped us to raise our public profile, together with high-impact coverage of the North East festival by Tyne Tees Television.
We worked closely with Voluntary Arts England who administered grants to arts groups producing projects for our target audiences. We also organised a Lord Mayor’s reception for grant winners, and produced a film to aid people setting up their own arts groups.
In addition, we funded an Arts Ambassadors programme to identify people across the UK to promote voluntary arts and crafts to our target audiences.
Campaign Message
- Volunteering in the arts can offer a life changing experience, one that is geared to you and your needs
- You might surprise yourself by what’s available, who you meet and what you learn!
Statement of support:
'UP FOR ARTS is a great way to try something new and have some fun.
Being a student at Backworth drama centre awoke something in me and
that was knowledge through creative expression and as a result I
realised what I wanted to do with my life. Drama and the arts allows us
to realise our possibilities and exceed our limitations. Have a go at
the Metro Centre, Gateshead, or visit an event near you and be amazed
at what it could do for you'. - Robson Green
Key voluntary sector partners
Voluntary Arts England
Key media and corporate partners
ITV Tyne Tees, Magic 1152, Metro, Newcastle Chronicle and Journal, Kiss Fm
Campaign activity
Campaign materials - flyer, poster and leaflet
Up for Arts film (24:38)
Community Channel
All our campaigns are developed in conjunction with Community Channel.
See the Up for Arts Campaign section on the Community Channel website for further information.