Grant giving charity donates towards arts education charity’s expansion

Talbot Village Trust, the grant giving charity, has recently donated £22,057 to Creative Kids to support investment in educational technology at the Creative Kids Arts Education Centre in Boscombe.

Creative Kids was founded in 2008 by social entrepreneur, Cary Lightfoot, to use the arts as a driver of social change and close the attainment gap for children in Boscombe. Since then Creative Kids has launched hundreds of free programmes that encourage children’s participation and engagement with the arts and local artists.

Talbot Village Trust provided two grants to the charity for two different projects. The first grant was used to expand the centre’s head office. The upstairs storage space at the Arts Education Centre was converted into a working office and training centre. The creative space is used for training new staff, university interns and volunteers.

The second grant has allowed the charity to invest in new educational technology and equipment. Creative Kids used the donation to purchase an additional ten iPads and an iMac to allow their current classes to accommodate up to 30 children per day. Children can now explore more advanced technology such as augmented reality in their free time.

Cary Lightfoot, Founder of Creative Kids Charity, commented: “Talbot Village Trust has been instrumental in helping our charity make the crucial step-change in becoming a more resilient and sustainable business model for the long term. With this grant we can now offer state of the art facilities to local children and young people in need of a better chance in life.”

Russell Lucas-Rowe, Trustee at Talbot Village Trust, added “At the Trust we value and understand the importance of art in education. In addition, in an ever-changing world, classes on future technology and its application are very valuable. We are pleased to have been able to help this charity develop the creativity of our community’s children.”

Talbot Village Trust meets biannually and is accepting applications for funding from both previous and new applicants in the area before the Trustees meet in autumn 2020. Please go to www.talbotvillagetrust.org for more information.