An art project organised by KeyRing in Bristol has been given a grant by the National Lottery Community Fund.
The group was started by Tracy Scrivener, a KeyRing Member in Bristol. After Tracy completed some training with Community Organisers she decided she wanted to use her new skills to start an art group in her community. She wanted to give people a chance to connect and be creative after lockdown and already knew some people who were interested in the idea.
With some support from Mark Turner, a KeyRing worker in the South West, Tracy got the group started at St Luke's Church. They found the venue and made posters to advertise the group.
It's open to everyone, not just KeyRing Members, and aims to be a space where neurodivergent and neurotypical people develop skills together.
The group has been very popular but hard to sustain financially, so they started to look for grants to help them keep going.
Tracy said "I am really pleased about the funding. It will make a lot of difference, as I was having to fund some of it myself."
The grant money will be used for things like room hire, equipment, travel costs so that people can attend, and support from professional artists. They are also planning an exhibition so that the group can show their work.
Mark said "It's great to know other people believe in it as much as we do."