CADS TRUST SOCIAL IMPACT REPORT 2015-16
Executive Summary
CADS South Yorkshire, trading as CADS Trust, is a creative industries charity, with a three-pronged mission to Provide for, Support and Promote the creative industries in Sheffield.
In providing, we strive to develop a secure, accessible and affordable creative space network. In supporting, we work to nurture and actively celebrate social, digital and creative enterprise. In promoting, we advocate creativity as an essential part of an economically competitive, politically engaged, and culturally diverse city. This mission was originally enshrined when we registered as a charity in 2013, as a brace of foundational charitable objectives which continue to frame our work.
At what depth or level do you want to work? CADS Trust has a strong history of working with grass-roots creative sector organisations, individuals and scenes, and has continually applied a DIY ethos to its work taking on disused buildings and working to develop new projects. This ethos and history of collaboration has afforded CADS a unique position in Sheffield’s creative community as a company working for and with actors that are DIY, atypical, making their first steps from their bedroom into the working world or are starting a new enterprise or project for the first time.
Target Groups
Our charitable objectives are:
Our target demographics are aspiring creatives taking their hobby on its first steps out of the bedroom, and new start-ups within the social and creative sectors.
• The provision of facilities for the promotion and enjoyment of the arts
Assumptions
• The creation of training or employment opportunities by the provision of affordable workspace and support assisting those in creative fields to set up their own businesses.
This mission drives our work as a charitable group of companies. CADS Trust is largely funded by its major trading arm, CADS Space, itself a social enterprise which donates all of its profits to CADS Trust. CADS Space manages previously disused buildings which it has transformed into affordable creative and work space, as well as offering start-up support services and project delivery services for the creative and community sector. The work of the CADS group of companies is strongly rooted in a cyclical concept of benefit: by renting our studios, tenants are supporting the goals of CADS Trust, which then works to support the creative, digital and non-profit sectors to develop, and fulfil our charitable mission.
In designing our social impact strategy, we have made several assumptions about the circumstances of actors seeking access to and support within the creative and social sectors.
Our assumptions of our target demographics are: 1. That they are more likely to be lower income and in more precarious employment 2. That they are more likely to lack knowledge of how to access finance and equity to grow 3. That they are more likely to lack professional connections within the industry, and/ or will benefit from being part of a relevant professional network 4. That they are more likely to lack formal business training or skills, specifically managerial and leadership skills 5. That creativity has a wide-range of holistic, societally useful benefits
Based on these assumptions about creatives and start-ups, we have identified the following interventions.
Our interventions are threefold, and are aligned with the triage of charitable objectives that make up our charitable mission.
We Provide: Through the provision of free and subsidised studio and event spaces, namely through our flagship charitable programme Space CADets. Space CADets is a self-funded programme in which start-ups or artists (broadly defined) are granted a period of free space for around 6 weeks, in which to carry out a time-finite project, or establish a new enterprise with the security of not having to pay a key overhead; rent. During their time on the Space CADets programme, beneficiaries also receive advice, guidance and support to achieve their goals within the time-frame.
Assumptions tackled: 1 + 2 + 3 We Support: Through the provision of free business advice, opportunities for development, and direct support services. - Setting up a company - Financial forecasting & analysis - Business planning - Business development - Business administration - Sign-posting to relevant services and resources, both local and national
Assumptions tackled: 1 + 2 + 4
We Promote: Through putting on our own arts and music events, and through showcasing artists online.
How do we reach demographics we seek to serve? In order to reach the demographics we seek to serve, we use three vehicles - Through our creative and multi-purpose studio complexes - Through our professional networks in Sheffield developed over six years of operations - Through our social media and online channels
Assumptions tackled: 3 + 5 o monitor the outcomes of T our charitable programmes, we use Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which our social impact is reconciled against on a monthly basis, and which are reviewed on an annual basis. Our KPIs for the year 2015-16 were: - Events: Run 2 publicly accessible, free events promoting the arts in innovative and engaging ways, which attain attendance figures of over 100 attendees. - Subsidised space: Provide free space and support for 3 artists through our Space CADets programme. - Business support services provided: Support 5 businesses with subsidised business support services.
STRATEGIES: PARTNERSHIP AND COLLABORATION
Another tool we utilise for reaching beneficiaries and expanding the types of projects and people we serve is through partnership and collaboration with other SMEs, Institutions, Funders and Stakeholders in the city. A key part of our ethos has always been ‘collaboration over competition’, and we have always sought to work with similarly minded organisations to meet common goals, as well as join forces with organisations that have different skills and qualities to us, and who we can work with on projects that take our work into new areas.
Outcomes 2015-16: Performance as Compared Against KPIs Events: Two events run as well as a programme of art therapy workshops. Total attendance of all events together was over 200 people.
Case studies: Eyre Street Fun Palaces – Shifting Fields – 04.10.2015 What? In October 2015, CADS Trust worked to bring the nationwide celebration of Science and Arts, Fun Palaces, to Sheffield. Named ‘Shifting Fields’, the one-day festival sought to explore the overlap between the disciplines of the arts and the sciences through free participatory workshops, talks, open-days and manifold other events across the country run by community organisations.
How?
Outcomes:
We achieved this through working with the city’s underground cultural initiatives, academic outreach projects, local startups and DIY musicians to curate a day of exploratory activities centred on the overlap of technology, pop-science, experimental music, counter-culture and family fun.
Overall 69% completed the course. Some attended every session, but others could not due to ill health or other commitments.
100% of participants said it helped them.
Outcomes: The day was well attended, with attendance reaching upwards of 100 people. Attendees ranged in age from toddlers to children to adults and the elderly, and had backgrounds ranging from families on a day out, to young adults from the alternative music scene, to students, to makers.
Quotes: Attendee: “that was ace!”
Get Creative – Art Therapy Workshops
An independent review of the course concluded: “Having witnessed the classes and being involved with all the participants over the last few weeks, we came away convinced that the programme is very beneficial to all who take part, especially those with mental health issues.”
Quotes: Here are some quotes from participants to summarise how the course has helped them.
What? An open and free course accessible for everyone, whose primary goal was to use the holistic benefits of creative work to help those with mental health issues.
How? The workshops took place over three weeks at Union St, with 60+ enrolled and an estimated 50 regular participants. The course used a range of media including textiles, photography, lantern making, chicken wire sculptures, drawing and painting, fimo modelling and glitter embossing to keep an open and varied schedule and enable a non-formulaic approach to the mental health issues experience by the workshop attendants.
“My confidence is coming back. I lost it for 9 months. I wouldn’t have thought I would be here now, in the head space in this period of time.“ “I have more confidence now and I understand myself better. I feel more comfortable around others as I feel like they may understand me better too” (language problems) “It’s helped me to be in a group, which I found difficult”
“I’m really pleased with what I’ve done, I really am... It’s been so liberating.”
Subsidised Space: Five projects and artists worked with through the Space CADets programme and through providing free space, all in line with our charitably objectives. Case studies:
FoodHall FoodHall is Sheffield’s ‘Pay as You Feel’ dining room and freecycling food network ran by students and graduates promoting wider community engagement through food.
Ambition: FoodHall’s aims and objectives are to create new food sharing infrastructures to allow students to engage with the wider community through food, originally based on a website and an app. They aimed to create a communal dining facility, serving surplus food that is based on a ‘pay as you feel’ system, allowing access to all.
Activities: FoodHall now operate their ‘pay as you feel’ cafe from Thursday to Saturday every week, feeding 50-70 people (often with around 70/100 teas and coffees) - of these guests, around 40-50% would consider themselves isolated or in need. They have also hosted multiple events and collaborated with other charities.
Quotes: “This Space CADets thing is really amazing, the way we have been helped to do this; things like the renewed funding should have a platform that is very similar, because we did find that we and a lot of other people were quite reliant on these funding applications.
But what CADS is doing I feel it should be a city wide program. In terms of allowing us to develop an idea that is high concept it has been really supportive.” “We have had help with Nick Potter and Kiran Antcliffe [CADS staff] and they have sat down with us and helped up with the Renew application and the funding, financial forecasts. Even on a basic level of Kiran doing our grammar and all the little things like that, right down to guiding us with what we should say. They have been really helpful, they have not been too prescribed, they have let us have our own agency and let us go and do what we want without being too mothering. They have not given any dos and don’ts, they have been really flexible.”
Outcomes: FoodHall has achieved many fantastic results, and what follows is just a snapshot: At the last count, over 4,700 people have eaten with FoodHall, and over 17,000 teas and coffees have been drunk by people from all backgrounds. Over 40 cultural, student and charitable events supported and facilitated with the space and app (all free or pay as you feel). Over 1200kg of food has been saved from wastage, with an average of 53 meals served a day, and during events, an average of 110 meals served.
Claire Lee Claire Lee has been a psychologist for 30 years, and looks to use her art to help people connect with their bodies, and understand trauma and physical disease. She has used the Space CADets programme to develop art that has a physicality and presence that assists people in understanding their bodies and boundaries through emotional and intellectual connections.
As a result of this work, Claire was given an opportunity to exhibit at the Walkley arts festival, where she saw the transformative effect of the work in action, at a high profile, popular exhibition. Space CADets has allowed her to explore new artistic directions and approach her work on a grander scale that was possible before, gaining her crucial new exhibition experience to develop her career.
Quotes: “I worked with installation of lots of different structures which I hadn’t done before” “[I] loved the space. Couldn’t have made this particular work if I didn’t have the space through the Space CADets programme simply because I don’t have the space.”
Alexandra Shorey Alexandra Shorey is a sculptor who specialises in horses. Before she joined the Space CADets programme she had already been making sculptures at home using individual wire frames and air dried clay. She found that although she had developed a good customer base for her products the onerous process of making each wire frame individually meant it was not commercially viable. Getting a studio on the Space CADets programme enabled her to move into production using rubber moulds and resin. This method is far more efficient and allows Alexandra to create multiple sculptures from the same mould, allowing her to significantly grow her business.
Quotes: “It’s given me that opportunity to try something that I’ve always wanted to do this, for years and years... I’ve always wanted to do it but I’ve never had that, kind of, breathing space to do it because I’ve always got orders in for work and it needed to work first time, do you know what I mean, because I’d be paying rent from day one, I wouldn’t have that kind of bit of leeway. That’s what this has given me, a bit of time and space where I could try out all this stuff and make a few mistakes.” “It could not be more perfect. I love it so much, it’s my second home. It really is.” “I think it’s great. I’m so grateful. Thanks CADS!”
Business support services provided: Five business provided with support services. Case studies:
Party for the People Ltd Support provided: Access to finance support, Free office space, Business support Party for the People (PFTP) are an ethical ticketing social enterprise, who were set up with the support of CADS in 2012 out of the main CADS complex in Shalesmoor. CADS Trust’s business support for PFTP has ranged from the provision of 41m2 of free managed office space, to providing cash-flow assistance and access-to-finance guidance to help cover start-up costs including marketing and web-development costs, to the provision of staff support in drawing down funding and developing governance processes. As a result of this support and the provision of free office space, PFTP has been able to develop into a company that employs 2 full time and 4 part-time staff, and has become a sustainable tenant of our CADS complex, paying monthly rent for their office usage and generate a revenue of £121,308 over the last financial year. Bronte Matthews, Business Manager of Party for the People, said of the support they’ve received from CADS Trust:
“On behalf of Party For The People, I would like to say a huge thank you to CADS for the crucial support they have provided us with over the past four years. It has been fundamental in enabling us to grow into a sustainable business which is now developing across Europe.”
The Great Escape Game Support Provided: Business Advice, Company Set-up Assistance We were approached by Hannah and Peter in 2014 as they had an idea for starting an Escape Game in Sheffield after they had seen them during their time travelling. One of our first roles was to find them space in our newly acquired AVEC building to test the idea and get started with some free time to allow them to make the necessary alterations to the room. They had no direct experience in business, so we advised them on company structure, working closely with them to set up a limited company for the project. Over the next year we assisted their expansion by enabling them to use 3 more of our studios, and we recently helped them set up another company for their upscaling into Leeds. They have been the number one attraction in South Yorkshire on Trip Advisor, bringing in 27,000 visitors and revenue of £250,000 in its first year of trading. They now use one of our partner buildings, Union St, as a base for their working on the business. Hannah Duraid, Founder and Director of The Great Escape Game said of the support they’ve received from CADS Trust:
“When we initially approached CADS, they were extremely welcoming and supportive about our idea, willing to help in anyway they could. It was the perfect opportunity for our startup idea, in terms of price, location and growth opportunities. Thank you for all of your help.”
The Network Effect - A Case Study of the Cyclical Economy within CADS Buildings
Courtney agreed about the ability of Union St’s network-effect to facilitate new trade and growth opportunities for start-ups:
Union St
“if anything it’s helped me to grow my business. There are so many things that I’m doing now that I don’t think I’d be doing if I were still working alone. Learning some marketing, starting to really promote myself.”
Union St: A place to meet, work and collaborate in Sheffield City Centre. A Collaborative project set up to combat isolation and promote a healthier work/life balance. Union St has connected dozens of selfemployed tradespeople and entrepreneurs, with its network effect having a profound effect on those that have worked there. Union St has created a shared sense of community, new opportunities for trade and fostering new business connections, and reduced isolation whilst improving the wellbeing of selfemployed people at work. Courtney Kyle moved to Sheffield last year in June from Alabama, and has been freelancing as a graphic designer for two and a half years since being made redundant from her previous job as a magazine’s art director. She remarked that since moving to Sheffield, “what’s been so wonderful [at Union St] is of course being surrounded by loads of start-ups and small businesses. They need a graphic designer; you know to design business cards or logos. I’ve done a bit of everything for members here.” Simon Kilpatrick moved to Union Street following a stint at Sheffield Hallam’s Hatchery and working with clients in Electric Works, to take his start-up Intrinsic Links out of its research and development phase and into full operations. Intrinsic Links is an occupational psychology and team building start-up specialising in increasing wellbeing, productivity and innovation in the workplace. “Since being here this kind of environment has nurtured collaboration and expansion of our company and I don’t think we would have expanded as quickly if it was not for us being here”. “Collaborations with AALFY and The Great Escape Game (who incidentally operate out of other CADS buildings), and a co-working App Developer Sam Biggins have followed, and from July 2015 to July 2016 their sales figures have doubled; ”May June July those months were up on last year so it’s all gone much higher so it’s really good.”
However the co-operative approach of those involved in the building enables peer-to-peer mentoring that gives a more casual access to crucial advice that helps many: “In the very early stages of setting up the business it was vital to get lots of advice from people been slightly further along the experience than myself. Everyone was extremely helpful putting me in touch with some really useful people. It was great to just bounce ideas off other people. Everyone has a really great positive attitude towards making things happen and getting things off the ground” reflected Tom.
“I’ve never been in a place where you introduce yourself to someone and then five minutes later you’ve got the perfect connection because people are so open and willing to share with one another”.
Finding working from home and in cafes less than ideal (“you can’t really meet people; you’re just on your own”), Courtney came to Matt, the project manager at Union St, and found that Union St was the environment she’d been searching for. “It’s low cost, it’s not too expensive.. I mean it was perfect”. The sense of community, and the difference between the isolation of working from home or in cafes, was also highlighted by Intrinsic Links founder Simon Kilpatrick: “I was going stir crazy at home and sometimes I had to make sure I was going out and about as often as possible.
So I would say definitely working here improved my mental health because you get to know people and I’ve made friends. I’ve got work colleagues, collaborators but also friends”. Union St has developed a cyclical economy of its own, as observed by Courtney Kyle (Freelance Graphic Designer):
“That’s exactly what happened when I design a brand for a café that’s opening up at Union St then that money is going back into Union St. Same with the mediation group by getting people in the building.”), and its one that has produced positive externalities of increased wellbeing, social impact, and and ethos of collaboration and co-operation. Tom agreed: “new people to be introduced to across a while range of different industries and so its keeping it fresh all the time, you are always meeting new people. The kind of ethos seems to be shared by everyone which is great”.
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