Exeter Scrapstore: Creative Practitioner Workshops
By providing free workshops to people who work with groups, including teachers, community builders, leaders and activists, Scrapstore used Creative Arc funding to educate about recycled materials and their uses in group situations, especially when talking about environmental issues. Not only did the project provide a valuable resource in a time when budgets are tight, and arts activities particularly are struggling, but it also enabled Scrapstore to grow and develop its cohort of workshop delivery artists and practitioners, and to introduce more people to the benefits of the Scrapstore itself.
The project also allowed for the organisation to evaluate its approaches; the project has become a pilot for designing another set of workshops, for which Scrapstore has received funding (from Viridor) to deliver later this year – this would not have been possible without Creative Arc support. It also stimulated the organisation’s customer base - a lot of people who weren’t eligible to attend these workshops have said they’d happily pay for similar workshops, opening up new audiences.