Locally Rooted, Locally Accountable

How we are locally rooted

Wood Street Walls is a community interest company formed to respond to the lack of affordable creative workspace in Waltham Forest. We use art and creativity to demonstrate to the local community (in Wood Street, E17, and the borough of Waltham Forest) the positive benefit art and creative activities can have and how it can lift up a local street scape, instilling a sense of civic pride in the area.

The group was formed by Walthamstow & Waltham Forest-based artists that wanted to live AND work in the area, instead of plying their trade outside of the borough. For a long period of time, Walthamstow and WF was seen as a "dormitory" borough where people lived but worked elsewhere.

Co-founded by Mark Clack & Tom Jackson, both Walthamstow residents, the group now consists of Walthamstow based artists with a trustee based of local residents with different skills sets (uploaded in the supported documents attached)

We successfully crowdfunded to repurpose a vacant building into creative workspaces, securing almost £40k on civic crowdfunding platform Spacehive (https://www.spacehive.com/woodstreetstudios) We also lobbied the local authority for an additional £30k, and invested £40k of our capital. Wood Street Studios is now home to 13 creatives, who are local to Wood Street and the Walthamstow area, many within 5-10 mins walk from the space. In return for affordable rent, tenants hold free workshops for local residents.

With the revenue generated from studio rent, we invest funds to commission public art in the area, responding to local stories, unsung heroes, the heritage of the area. We deliver school projects with students with SEND needs, and housing trusts.

Our projects can be found at www.woodstreetwalls.co.uk/gallery & www.woodstreetwalls.co.uk/projects

How we Trade

There are a number of ways we currently trade; firstly income from the creative workspaces, generates funds to maintain the building and deliver outward-facing projects in the form of artwork, workshops and events.

Secondly, we deliver public artwork from private and public commissions, installing public art around London, predominantly east London and primarily Waltham Forest, our CIC constitution states that our artwork should benefit the residents, artists and businesses of Waltham Forest. We facilitate local residents/groups who need funding or guidance to create their own art.

Thirdly, we also produce artwork through screen prints, artwork and merchandise (found at www.woodstreetwalls.co.uk/shop)

Finally, we also secure additional funding to deliver larger projects by crowdfunding and applying for grants, sometimes using revenue from studio rental or commercial work for consultancy advice for business development/bid writing.

Our initial approach to funding community projects is reviewed on a case by case basis, normally seeking external funding to support the proposed concept further supplementing from any reserves or surplus from the current financial year.

Previous accounting years would estimate to be an average of 80% through trading, with Wood Street Walls' initial years approx 60-70% through trading with the difference secured through grants. A small fraction is through public donations.

How we are locally accoutnable

1. Our CIC constitution aims to ".....promote art, culture, and creativity for the residents of Waltham Forest"

2. Our core team - WF residents

3. Our trustees - WF residents

4, Finally, and one of the most important and relevant, we continually involve the community in the content we deliver around the area. We host an annual "Pick Your Pattern" project - residents vote on their preferred design. Residents nominate walls, artists or subjects for murals and we make this come to life -

In the next evolution of our project, we plan to create a community share offering to raise funds for the expansion of our courtyard space at Wood Street Studios to help increase community involvement.

Wood Street Walls CIC goals are as follows:

• Use public art as a way to raise awareness of key social issues facing our borough and London.
• To make art accessible for the residents of and visitors to Waltham Forest through the erection and installation of outdoor public art.
• To establish new creative hubs for the borough: by repurposing disused/derelict buildings, or new & existing community spaces.
• To provide free workshops to the local community lead by our resident artists in return for affordable rent.

The Wood St Walls team consists of freelancers and sole traders who work on a project by project basis are 80% current or formerly WF residents. All others are Waltham Forest based (included in supporting documents that have been uploaded).

Our trustees also consist of 80% local members, the other member previously based in the area, but now relocated to Ireland. Her input as a communication expert within the charity and housing sector is key.