MISSION STATEMENT
Our aims and objectives are:
- To recognise and encourage all forms of artistic expression and to reach out and nurture the next generation of artists.
- To match resources to what can be realistically achieved.
- To support arts which are challenging, captivating, inclusive and independent in spirit.
- To give value for money and enrichment to the people of Kingston through artistic and cultural merit.
- To continue to champion the arts in Kingston, working hard to ensure that our affiliates receive the recognition they deserve.
- To support the Royal Borough of Kingston’s Cultural Strategy for Kingston 2008-2012.
- To support the aims of the Cultural Olympiad.
- To support the Royal Borough of Kingston’s Children and Young People’s Plan.
- To encourage and assist partnerships working to achieve these aims.
- To serve our affiliates and be an influential voice for arts and culture in the Borough.
- To engage with our affiliates through meetings, the website and newsletters.
- To seek out new and different audiences.
We will:
- Speak up for the local arts community in whatever forum.
- Trust and seek to be trusted by the local arts community.
- Support local arts organisations, affiliated or not, and individuals in their artistic endeavours.
Kingston Arts Council received Strategic status in 2006 to represent the artistic community in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. This means we have secured funding for three years to establish ourselves as leader and mentor for the arts, and have a unique opportunity to plan and develop our strategy and policy to promote the arts at the heart of Kingston life.
We believe that the arts have power to transform lives and to deliver opportunities for people who traditionally are not participants or make up audiences.
We will attempt to help local arts organisations thrive and not just survive, and seek to have inclusion at the heart of our work – which includes cultural diversity, children and young people – as well as attempting to address the kind of social exclusion that prevents people from accessing the arts.
We will encourage excellence and promote the highest possible standards throughout the various art forms and work to break down the boundaries that exist between the arts and other disciplines.
We will regularly examine definitions of the arts to ensure we are open to current trends in emerging arts practices, and we will encourage the cross-fertilisation of art forms where appropriate.
We will recognise that participation in the arts, whether performing, creating or just watching and listening, should be fun as well as an uplifting experience.
To these ends we will:
- Actively support and encourage new projects that fulfil our mission statement.
- Source training for organisations and individuals where needs are identified.
- Assist in the management of events organised by other partner organisations.
- Consider a major event or events each year, whether in the form of a Festival, and/or seek to attract well-known performers for professional events.
This approach will feed into our business planning over the next three years and will assist in mapping out our activities for the wider arts community in Kingston.
