Creative Community Boxes

A project providing arts and crafts materials in community venues in Cardiff.

There are extensive proven benefits to communal participation in creative activities, including improved mood; increased social connection; improved physical and mental health; and skills development.

However, recruiting a freelance artist to lead regular group activities can be expensive and risks creating a dependency on one person. We believe that creative activities are most valuable if they are shaped and directed by the people who take part in them.

For this project, we placed boxes of arts and crafts materials in six community venues in Cardiff, where groups started meeting weekly following the pandemic, and who requested creative activities.

Based on suggestions from the groups, we provided arts and crafts materials in each venue, along with a selection of creative prompts in Welsh and English. Each box had our contact details and suggestion slips for further materials, prompts and feedback. We regularly replenished the materials and prompts over the course of the project.

We placed 6 boxes in 6 venues for 8 different groups in Cardiff.

An estimated 317 participants took part in the project.

Feedback

"I think this is a brilliant idea, because it’s easier to talk when you’re all making something."
"Thank you for the fantastic drawing group session yesterday. Everyone was very welcoming and I had a great time."
"I really enjoyed it and it was fun to have the freedom to experiment with the paints. I’ve learnt such a lot. We are very lucky to have this group."

Art & Craft Swap

We know that some people struggle to afford new art supplies, while others may have spare and unused materials at home.

So in addition to the Creative Community Boxes, we piloted an Art & Craft Swap in Whitchurch Hub, Cardiff.

Creative boxes in pubs

A legacy of the project was an initiative with Pub is the Hub, with whom we partnered to provide Creative Community Boxes in four rural pubs in Wales, to help local people connect through creative activities.

This development was supported by Pub is the Hub with a grant from The Royal Countryside Fund.

We are extremely grateful to National Lottery Awards for All Wales for their support for this project.