Email news bulletin July 2006

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Contents:

Accelerating growth of village shops programme launch
Henry Moore Foundation partnership
Art at the rockface
What are the values of the third sector?
Howard League community programmes award final
Pupil voice
Buglife and Plantlife
Annual Report & Accounts
Charity Awards 2006

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Accelerating growth of village shops programme launch

The demise of the village shop and Post Office in England is well documented, and people in many rural communities have no alternative but to travel to purchase even the most routine household items. In June 2006, Esmée Fairbairn’s Trustees agreed a grant of £1 million over three years to the Plunkett Foundation, a leading promoter of rural issues. The grant, alongside loan funding from Co-operative and Community Finance and development assistance from the Village Shops Retail Association, a group run by the Plunkett Foundation, will provide start-up packages which will comprise a grant of up to £20,000, complemented by a similar contribution from the community and a loan of at least the same amount from Co-operative and Community Finance. This will, among other things, provide a valuable service to the most disadvantaged in rural communities. Details of the programme will be announced at the Plunkett Foundation's annual general meeting at Blenheim Palace on 20 July 2006.
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Henry Moore Foundation Partnership

In 2006, the Esmée Fairbairn Arts & Heritage programme agreed funding over three years to the Henry Moore Foundation, with the goal of supporting artists and benefiting a large number of visual-arts projects across the UK. The Henry Moore Foundation, set up in 1977, aims to advance the education of the public by promoting an appreciation of fine arts. Some of the recent exhibitions supported by the Henry Moore Foundation include the Ways of Living Group Show at Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge and an exhibition of the work of James Turrell at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Esmée Fairbairn has earmarked £150,000 to give annually to the Henry Moore Foundation between 2006 – 2008. The Henry Moore Foundation’s focus on exhibitions and commissions is one of the funding priorities of the Art & Heritage programme.
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Art at the Rockface

In May 2006, a new exhibition opened at Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, as part of Esmée Fairbairn Foundation’s Regional Museum Initiative. Art at the Rockface: The Fascination of Stone combines art and geology in an exhibition which examines the influence of the landscape on artists and its role in providing raw materials for their art. The exhibition features a combination of 2-D and 3-D works as well as geological specimens. The exhibition runs in Norwich until 3 September 2006 and then tours to the Millenium Galleries in Sheffield from September 2006 until January 2007. There are two more exhibitions still to come under the Regional Museums Initiative, both of which are taking place in Summer 2007. Pallant House in Chichester will be running Eye Music: Experiments in Abstract Art from Kandinsky to Mondrian. City Art Centre in Edinburgh will be running Hand, Heart and Soul: Arts and Crafts in Scotland 1880 – 1939.
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What are the values of the third sector?

The value-driven ethos of third-sector organisations is often cited as their distinguishing feature. But what are these values and how do they influence the working practices of the sector? Community Links, with funding from Esmée Fairbairn, undertook research to try to answer the questions, what are the values of the third sector, are these values unique to the sector, are these values under threat and what can we do to promote and protect these values? The research found that there are values that are meaningful to third sector organisations, some of which are transforming lives, pursuing equality, finding fulfillment and generating public wealth. Some of these values are potentially under threat due to the changing nature of the relationship between government and the sector. The research showed that organisations that successfully navigate these threats are the ones that focus with passion on their values. As a result of this research, Esmée Fairbairn and Community Links have published a report that was launched at a conference about living values, held in London on the 23 June.
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Howard League community programmes award final

In partnership with Esmée Fairbairn’s Rethinking Crime and Punishment – implementing the findings programme, the Howard League for Penal Reform  is running an award scheme to celebrate the most successful community-sentence programmes round the country. These will act as exemplars and allow others to learn from good practice.  The winning programmes were showcased at an event in London on 11 July. The ceremony was part of the Howard League’s Community Sentences Cut Crime campaign.  These winners included Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Youth Offending Service for a project which works with young offenders aged 10-17 who have received final warnings, using volunteers to work with them to take responsibility for their actions, consider the consequences of their actions and signpost support from other organisations.
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Pupil voice

Since the launch of the Citizenship Curriculum in England, many schools have started to embrace pupil participation. Policy makers including Ofsted, Specialist Schools and Academies Trust and the Home Office, as well as practitioners and young people are keen for more opportunities for students to influence decisions made in schools and the wider community. As commitment grows, pupil participation is increasingly seen as an important tool in school improvement. It was in this context that the Carnegie Young People Initiative, as part of the Carnegie UK Trust, and Esmée Fairbairn came together in Spring 2005 to gain a better understanding of the impact of pupil participation on secondary schools in England. The results of the project are set out in four publications, under the ‘Inspiring Schools’ banner: Impact and Outcomes, A Literature Review, Case Studies for Change and Resources for Action. These reports can be found on the Esmée Fairbairn website.
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Buglife and Plantlife

In recent years, there has been a significant decrease in a whole range of British invertebrate species, from beetles to moths, and in a sweeping array of plants.  In recognition of this, the Independent newspaper   donated 20p for every paper sold on the 24 June to Buglife and Plantlife, two organisations which have been grant funded by Esmée Fairbairn in 2006.  Buglife, which is the first organisation in Europe committed to the conservation of all invertebrates, aims to prevent invertebrate extinction and maintain sustainable populations of invertebrate in the UK. Plantlife is an international wild plant conservation society. Plantlife also came away from the Gardner’s World Live show in Birmingham with a silver-gilt medal for their show garden Grow Wild to Know the Wild.
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Annual Report & Accounts 2005

Esmée Fairbairn’s Annual Report & Accounts were published in May and are now available on our website. The report provides full details of our grant-making activities in 2005, and gives an insight into the type of work we support and some of the results of funded work.  It also gives updates from each of our funding areas.
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Charity Awards 2006

The Charity Awards 2006 recognise and celebrate excellence in the leadership and management of charities. Congratulation’s to all short-listed organisations. 2006 winners included four organisations that have received Esmée Fairbairn support over the past four years: Hibuscus, which received the overall award winner and the award for education and training, the Evelyn Oldfield Unit, who won the award for arts, culture and heritage and Llamau, who won the award for children and youth. Speaking up won the award in the disability category.
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The next Esmée Fairbairn e-bulletin will be published in Autumn 2006.

Contact: bulletin@esmeefairbairn.org.uk

20 July 2006