26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Powys County Times
Powys: Arts programme for children secures lottery funding
The MAKE Creative Arts Programme for children in and around Presteigne, Powys, has received £19,804 in funding.
The money, from the National Lottery Community Fund, will help the Sidney Nolan Trust to continue running the programme for children aged seven to 11 years old until July 2027.
The weekly arts club, which is held on Monday afternoons during term time at the Youth Centre in Presteigne, was developed to give access to arts and creative learning for young people in Presteigne and the surrounding area.
The new funding from the National Lottery Community Fund, which distributes money raised by National Lottery players for good causes and is the largest community funder in the UK, offers important support to help sustain this well-regarded after-school programme based in the community.
Run by artists from the area, Sophie Ferrier and Olivia Mabey, the sessions give young people the chance to explore a variety of ideas and creative skills, as well as to share their artwork within the community.
Those taking part help shape the direction of the sessions, with the group having worked across drawing, printmaking, photography, animation and puppetry, among other art forms.
Antony Mottershead, curator and creative producer at the Sidney Nolan Trust, who set up the project with initial support from the Ashley Family Foundation, said: "We're proud to be enabling young people in our rural area to get hands-on through MAKE with a range of creative ideas and processes.
"We know that the arts are increasingly pushed to the margins of education and the support of the National Lottery Community Fund enables us to maintain this vibrant artist-led programme in the heart of our community.
"Alongside developing their creativity and problem-solving we also see our participants growing in confidence, social skills and aspiration."
When young people turn 11, they are encouraged to continue developing their creativity by joining the Trust's Cultivate arts programme, which is designed for those aged 11 to 18.
One of the young people said: "I have been going to the Sidney Nolan Trust for a long time now.
"I started in the MAKE group and then progressed to the Cultivate group.
"One of the sessions I really liked at MAKE was the Lino printing.
"We sketched plants and transferred the image to Lino and made prints.
"There are so many things I love about Cultivate.
"I get to meet artists and be inspired by them, and even work with them.
"At Cultivate, I get to meet people and work with materials that I can't do anywhere else.
"I live somewhere where I can't find much art to take part in.
"Cultivate helps me feel like I can be an artist."
The National Lottery Community Fund has recently introduced its new strategy, 'It starts with community', which will guide the distribution of at least £4 billion in National Lottery funding by 2030.
As part of this strategy, the funder has identified four main missions: to support communities in coming together, promote environmental sustainability, help children and young people thrive, and enable people to lead healthier lives.
