News from the Baring Foundation

 

Arts and Refugees - National Events and Website
After a competition the Arts Council England and the Baring Foundation have appointed a consortium of Refugee Week in conjunction with Oval House Theatre and ArtsReach to undertake this work. The jointly funded four year project was initiated by the two funders after the publication of Arts and Refugees; History, Impact and Future (click here) which indicated a need for such networking and professional development.

Joint International Development Programme 2010
The Joint International Development programme 2010 (in collaboration with the John Ellerman Foundation) is now open. We especially encourage applications from African-led voluntary organisations based in the UK fitting these requirements. Click here to see the funding guidelines.

New Publications
Supporting Parents with Learning Disabilities and Difficulties - Stories of Positive Practice. The Baring Foundation has supported a consortium led by the Norah Fry Research Centre on creating a better deal for parents with learning difficulties and their children. The latest publication from this Special Initiative gives a unique insight into how the right support to parents produces enormous benefits to these families. It can be downloaded by clicking here

Sitting on Chairs: Observations on Capacity Building in Developing Countries by John Twigg. This paper from our International Development Adviser draws lessons from the first twelve independent evaluations from grants that we make to UK based International NGOs to build the capacity of Southern partners to respond to the needs of refugees and Internally Displaced People. (In the first years of this programme grants were made for work in Latin America and Africa and since then we have only funded in Africa). The report concludes with recommendations to both funders and to INGOs. It can be downloaded in full by clicking here.

Rights with Meaning. This report describes the 2008 round of the STVS – independence programme with its focus on supporting advice and advocacy organisations. Hard copies of this publication are available free, while stocks last, from the Baring Foundation office and can be downloaded by clicking here.

Ageing Artfully: Older People and Professional Participatory Arts in the UK by David Cutler. To accompany the Foundation's core costs grants programme for arts organisations working with older people, we have published the first UK wide mapping study of this work. 120 case studies of organisations were identified and numerous examples of all art forms, especially dance, drama, music, singing and the visual arts. The report looks at the history of the movement and puts it in a policy context. The man benefits of this work, beyond artistic expression, are seen as improved physical and mental health and better personal and societal relationships. The report concludes with thirteen recommendations as to how this work can be strengthened. Ageing Artfully has a foreword by Dame Joan Bakewell, the Government's 'Voice of Older People'. It is available free from the Foundation office and can be downloaded by clicking here.

Interculturality - Awards
The Baring Foundation is running a Special Initiative to promote intercultural dialogue. A major element of this is the creation of awards to reward good practice at the local level. These awards are being run by the Institute of Community Cohesion and funded by us. They are called the 'Awards for Bridging Cultures'. Awards were given at the Royal Society for Arts in London on 1 December 2009. Baring Foundation trustee, Ranjit Sondhi gave a speech at the beginning of the day which can be downloaded by clicking here. The winning projects were:

Voluntary sector organisations with a turnover above £500,000:
Barton Hill Settlement: The Barton Hill together project - Bristol;
Early Years, the organisation for young children: Media Initiative for children -Northern Ireland.

Voluntary sector organisations with a turnover under £500,000:
Aik Saath: Community cohesion project - Luton.

Public/private partnerships with the voluntary sector:
Birmingham City Council;
Hungry Arts Ltd;
London Borough of Southwark.
(All commended)

Individual:
Carl Kelsall, St Peter's Youth.

Further details can be found by going to the dedicated website www.bridgingcultures.org.uk

Strengthening the Voluntary Sector - independence programme 2009 and 2010
The Foundation will not be inviting applications to the STVS - independence programme in 2009. This is because the trustees felt that the high quality of the applications to the 2008 programme justified bringing forward funding allocated to 2009. We will announce during 2010 our intentions for the final year of the independence programme.

You can see details of successful grant applicants in 2008 by clicking here. To see grants approved under this programme in previous years click here.

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