4 April 2016

The changing of the seasons is a pretty hackneyed subject for a blog piece, but change is on my mind at the moment and so, with respect, change is the tenor of this springtime missive. Socrates, the wise old buff, wrote,

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”

As always, I have to agree with our judicious friend. Change takes time, it takes courage and it takes commitment. I do think that letting go of the old is the far more difficult aspect of the process, but when achieved, the building of the new is all the more creative and inspiring.

So, why is change so much on my mind? The beginning of April and a new financial year is always for me a time to focus on change and to look forward to the year ahead. I think, as an organisation, the new financial year is far more important than the actual New Year and I would suggest a form of ‘Organisational Hogmanay’ should be introduced across the globe. Maybe not as commercial an idea as the real thing, but I’m sure we could all use our CPD budgets for a little celebration? What CPD budgets I hear you cry…

At Creativity Works, we have change aplenty happening in 2016/17. Primarily, we will be recruiting three new members of staff to join our team to fill vital roles. We are currently undergoing the recruitment process for a new Business Development Manager and announced in this newsletter are also the roles of a new Artists Training and Development Manager and maternity cover for our Communications and Administration co-ordinator post. It is a very exciting time to be joining the organisation as we continue our socially engaged arts work as the only National Portfolio Organisation in Bath and North East Somerset. We have projects in the pipeline, new trustees on board and the vigour to ever-enhance the quality of our work.

We are also looking at delivering more work locally, in and around Radstock and the Somer Valley. As the seasons are cyclical, so it seems are the arts and in a way we are returning to our roots, with an aspiration to do more work in our own locality. One notable change in Radstock is the opening of new Italian Restaurant, Castello. In the interests of bringing new visitors to the town, I may well take it on myself to give you a restaurant review in my next blog! That is true dedication to the cause, I hear you say.

Finally, some words from the controversial American Cultural Anthropologist, Margaret Mead:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

 

Olly