Artichoke Our Big Give Christmas Challenge is live: We need your support to raise £6,000 in 7 days

With your help, we hope to raise £6,000 to produce a new programme of free, creative workshops for young people from low-income families in outer London Boroughs

Artichoke’s mission has always been to make extraordinary art accessible to all. But, did you know that we also produce unique creative workshops and training schemes? Since 2006, over 100,000 people across the UK have taken part in our Learning & Participation programmes. Inspiring future generations by encouraging them to explore their imagination is key to what we do.

With your help, we hope to raise £6,000 to produce a new programme of free, creative workshops for young people from low-income families in outer London Boroughs. We know our work makes a meaningful difference to communities across the UK. Participants develop new skills, improve their wellbeing and make new friends.

“I love the feeling of when you put your heart and soul into something and then it turns out amazing. It's the best feeling. I couldn't even describe it, but it makes me feel so proud.”

~ Lift Off, participant, Lumiere, 2019 ~

Your support via The Christmas Challenge means that we can keep providing young people with life-changing opportunities like this.

2 children holding drawings. One reads 'My hope for London is to love each ovru', the other reads 'my hope for London is for people to have money'. — Learning & Participation Workshop. Great Fire of London.

Our aim

If we reach our target, in summer 2023 we will produce a free programme of creative workshops for young people from low-income families. The group will learn about socially-engaged art and work with a visual artist to create their own artworks.

One donation. Twice the impact!

Our generous Champion Funder for the Christmas Challenge is The Childhood Trust. This means that every pound you donate this week will be doubled, making your support go even further.

Now we need your help

Your support will help more young people from disadvantaged backgrounds discover their creativity. Please consider donating to us from today on Giving Tuesday until 6th December to help us reach our £6,000 target.

You can donate via The Big Give Christmas Challenge from today until 12pm, 6th December. Any donation, small or large, will make a difference.

Young people take part in workshops at the Nerve Centre's Fablab. Part of the 'Temple' project, by David Best, produced by Artichoke. Photo by Lorcan Doherty

Where will the money go?

£3,000 – Workshop facilitators

£1,500 – Workshop resources/materials

£500 – Online tutorial and education resource pack

£1,000 – Contribution to core costs, including staffing and overheads

Understanding the target

Funds raised through The Christmas Challenge will go towards a programme of free, creative workshops for young Londoners from low-income families in Summer 2023. If we do not meet our target, we will scale back our activity. If we raise an amount over our target, we will distribute the extra where it is needed most in our organisation.

Reporting

We evaluate the impact of our work by surveying teachers, workshop leaders and mentors. We also encourage children and young people to complete questionnaires about their experiences. We will track participants’ progress over the course of the project against key performance indicators and we will summarise the impact in a written report. We will share our learnings with other arts organisations and use evaluation to improve our future projects. We will also stay in touch with the participants to assess the long-term legacy.

If you have any questions about The Big Give or if you would like to talk to us before deciding whether to make a donation, please contact: development@artichoke.uk.com