Help Us Secure a Better Future for Young People
How much does Wac Arts need to operate each year and what is the ‘shortfall’ Wac Arts is hoping to fill?
Over the last three years, the annual cost of running programmes has averaged £2.2million, an investment that has had an incalculable return in the form of the enriched lives of 1,200 young people every year.
In 2014-2015, we need a minimum of £420,000 of new funding to meet the difference between income we can already count on and money to underpin organisational capacity to drive a more self-sustaining organisation, protected from the volatility and uncertainty of year-to-year income generation. This sum will increase to £500,000 in 2015-2016 and £530,000 in 2016-2017. We anticipate the majority of this new money will come from individuals who care passionately about the community in which they live, who understand the return on investment that the arts delivers and who have a fierce desire to awaken the potential of young people.
Everything we do at Wac Arts is geared to help and support the students who come through our doors. We have some need to strengthen our infrastructure; make our building more fit for purpose; invest in our dedicated staff; and drive awareness of our impact on young people’s lives to create a more self-sustaining organisation.
But our most urgent priority, for which we seek unrestricted donations, is to meet current demand for an educational experience with us, and increase the number of students whose lives we can so profoundly impact:
- Wac Arts has a two year waiting list for its programmes; this means there are young people in desperate need of support and personal development that Wac Arts could help to provide. If Wac Arts does not achieve its current funding targets, programmes we are delivering now will have to be cut. If we don’t increase fundraising over the coming years, we will not reach the young people on our waiting lists, so eager to come to us for support.
- The celebrated Wac Arts Diploma in Professional Musical Theatre, a full qualification proven to lead to genuine employment opportunities, could support 20-24 students a year; the 2014 cohort is four. We want to launch a scholarship fund to subsidise students who need financial support in order to gain this exceptional qualification.
Every gift we receive will, in some way, help us transform young people’s lives through the power of the arts, just as it has those who feel privileged to have been part of Wac Arts’ 35 year life-enriching history.
“Attending Wac Arts every Sunday as a teenager transformed my life. I cannot overstate the continuing importance of having such institutions accessible to young people in London.”
Sam Beste, Wac Arts alumnus and professional musician
A partnership with Wac Arts would give you:
Marketing Opportunities: We would like to offer you the opportunity to advertise the partnership in the local press, around the Old Townhall and on all of our marketing materials which includes a quarterly newsletter to over 2000 contacts. In addition, we would be delighted to advertise the partnership on banners when our Diploma students perform at local events, such as Hampstead Christmas Fair and Hampstead Arts Fair.
Brand Alignment and Accreditation: We would look to promote the partnership on companies’ websites, social media, print and merchandise.
Employee Engagement: We would look to develop Partnership opportunities to provide business advice to our young entrepreneurs, careers advice to our students who do not want a career in the creative industries and work placements to students whose lives have the potential to be transformed by such an opportunity. Our young people would benefit enormously from mentoring from your employees. We would welcome the chance to set up visits to have a tour of your offices and a qualified talk about the best routes into the business.
Corporate Social Responsibility: We would invite you to sponsor a gifted young person on our Diploma in Professional Musical Theatre. Scholarships for our Diploma Course are a key part of our charitable mission. Our scholarships are means tested and the purpose of a scholarship is to allow a gifted individual, who is successful in the auditions, to attend Wac Arts who would not otherwise be able to do so. Our flagship Diploma consistently operates at the forefront in performing arts training. The first of its kind in the UK, as well as offering traditional, classical and contemporary training, our programme also includes African, Asian, South American, Eastern and European performance techniques.
Invitations: Wac Arts holds regular showcases and sharings to which we welcome you and your clients. We would also offer an invitation to our annual thank you event with our alumni and celebrity Patrons – including Ann Mitchell, Ms Dynamite and Danny Sapani. You would also be offered opportunities to invite Wac Arts Diploma students to perform at your events.
And more! With our range of facilities, programmes and arts professionals available there are many other ways in which we could support your business from holding networking events in our premises, arranging arts based team building days, having our students perform at your Christmas party etc!
Contact us
To find out more about our corporate partnerships, please call:
Hayley Butler on 020 7692 5807 or email: Hayley.Butler@WacArts.co.uk
