Update 2nd February 2021

Hi everyone and thanks for your continued support. Although our centre is temporarily closed at the moment, in line with Covid restrictions and the 3rd lockdown, we are still supporting our local community with door step visits, lock down craft window displays, activity packs for adults and children, well being calls, chat groups, dog walks and shopping deliveries.

We continue to seek and secure funding and plan and host innovative projects for our Community to engage with in these challenging times. Any donations made to our Just Giving page all help to keep us going, so thank you.

Wishing all of our supporters well... Stay safe from Maxine, Deb and Ruth

Update 2nd November 2020

Here we are approaching a 2nd lockdown. During these past months we have been able to continue to support our community with creative and cultural projects and events, following government guidlines with relation to Covid and will continue to offer support during the coming weeks and months.

We have sent out 100's of activity packs to local families and individuals to help provide them with creative activities and a point of contact. We have been able to offer shielded craft sessions for small groups and allowed other Arts organisations to use our space where needed. We have been able to coordinate events which took place outdoors, such as our Butts Festival which ran on August bank holiday and incorporated surrounding streets and the local allotments. In addition, our festival of light events this year included a Halloween lantern trail in collaboration with Borneo street allotments, and Zaduzski - Polish day of the dead in collaboration with The Bridge Arts Group, which ran live as a Watch Party on Facebook on 1st of November and can be watch back..

Future events such as Bonfire Night - Sparklefest 5th Nov 6 - 6.45, Diwali - 15th Nov 5 - 7, Christmas Lights 6th Dec 4pm are planned outdoor socially distanced events which will go ahead if restrictions allow.

Thank you for your continued support and the donations you make, which help us to support our local Community.

Update May 24th 2020

We are continuing the support our community through this period of change with the delivery creative packs, seasonal outdoor activities, on-line connectivity and with many of our members supporting the NHS by making wash-bags. While our usual sessions are closed, our members with Autism or mental health problems are able to book in sessions with their carer or one to one with us.

Our fundraising page has now been extended to run for a further year allowing the opportunity for our supporters to donate and be part of this amazing community asset. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all of the help and support we receive... it really does make a difference.

UPDATE APRIL 13th 2020

COVID 19

During this period of of isolation and social distancing we have been continuing to provide support for our community. Please see our facebook page for how you get involved in our adapted activities or join our WhatsApp support groups.

Funds raised on Just Giving during this period going to the NHS. We are also collecting moisturisers for NHS staff.

UPDATE 20th March 2020

We are so happy to announce that we have secured funding to keep us going until September. We thank you all for helping us through our tricky time where we were suffering a funding gap. You really helped to keep us going with all our community art projects. We are all grateful for your support as we continue to help serve the community with creativity, social connections and activities. At the moment we are running a 'Have a Heart' campaign where we are delivering creative packs to those who are self isolating or keeping a social distance during Covid 19. These packs are free, however I have updated this page for those who have requested that they would like to make a donation. Many thanks, Max, Deb and Ruth.

Jan 2020 - Walsall Creative Factory is a Community Arts Workshop situated in the Butts, Walsall. We are a collective of people who took a leap of faith by obtaining a short term local pop-up shop to run community creative sessions, social gatherings and community projects funded by government grants, donations from trusts, fund raising events and with support of the local community.

Our experiment has shown us that there is a real need to support isolated and vulnerable members of our community who, in the year we have been open, have developed confidence, made new social connections and gained transferable skills by taking part in creative activities within our workshop. Our community has strengthened, community cohesion has increased and the well-being of many people has improved. Our activities and events have bought a wide range of people from different backgrounds together, breaking down barriers between people. And of course we've had some fun, laughter, some amazing social gatherings and celebrations along the way.

We have had over 400 attendees per month, been open 6 days a week, sometimes 7, for almost 1 whole year!! It's been a great achievement for everyone involved and we can't thank people enough.

Sadly, as we approach our 1st birthday, our funding is coming to an end and we are trying our upmost to secure continued funding to keep our workshop open. Bids are being written, applications are being made, volunteers are doing their best to support us. However it all takes time and effort to obtain secure funding to enable us to keep this community asset going and we need some help!!! We need 1 months worth of funds to pay our overheads and give us some breathing space to help Creative Factory keep ticking over whilst we try our best to secure funding for another year. Any donation will make a huge difference and help towards keeping our fantastic experiment, which has now turned into a reality, going. We hope you can help by donating or sharing our story. Many thanks from Maxine, Deb and Ruth at Walsall Creative Factory.

***UPDATE***

Hi everyone. We'd like to thank you all for you support so far. Here’s a little breakdown of what your donations pay for:

£100 pays for 1 week of workshop space, our rent is £400 per month.

£30 buys us 1 weeks food and supplies to enable vulnerably housed and homeless people to enjoy drop-in free drinks, snacks throughout the the week and hot food during our Friday creative session.

£75 pays us for 1 worker to run and support 2 creative sessions during the week. We run 10 sessions each week, some with a paid worker, some with a volunteer. We also run fee paying evening sessions and Saturday Arts School.

£50 pays for 1 weeks worth of amenities, such as electric and water. We do not have gas heating or hot water and so we run solely on electric.

£300 pays for a multi-cultural celebration event. These have been a mixture of seasonal and faith events over the past year and we hope to continue in the same way.

£50 pays for 1 weeks worth of creative resources; visual arts, 3D, textile and specialist crafts.

£10 pays for 1 weeks worth of lifts and taxis that enable isolated or lonely people to visit our workshop, take part in learning or creative activities and make new social connections.

Your donations make a difference... Now that is amazing!! Thank you!! Maxine, Deb and Ruth :)