Sussex Arts Academy Newsletter
May 2016
Welcome to the latest SAA newsletter!
SAA continues to develop services in line with its two
main aims:
1. To connect arts and cultural practitioners in
the community with children and young
people in schools and colleges so that young
people can have better access to arts and
cultural enrichment programmes, and
practitioners can extend their business
opportunities;
2. To make bursaries and sponsorship available
to support the engagement of
disadvantaged young people in arts and
cultural enrichment programmes.
The fourth creative storytelling event of its kind, April’s
Story Factory Chichester was a huge success. Wilf, 11years-old, said: “Story Factory is great fun, you have
the chance to let your imagination run wild and write
whatever you want. There are no rules and it feels
really free. We all have a chance to share our ideas too,
which is cool.”
Parents also see the value of the sessions with a mum
of two children (aged 7 and 8) describing the
workshops as: "Creative. Imaginative. Fabulous!"
Another parent added that Story Factory is:
"Confidence-building fun!"
Story Factory Chichester returns on 28th October, 2016
and Sussex Arts Academy hopes to continue
supporting this venture. If you would like to find out
more about Story Factory Chichester please contact
Katy today.
Dance for a Special Generation
Story Factory Chichester
As part of its sponsorship role, SAA was delighted to
support this event which took place at St Wilfrid’s
Church Community Hall, Chichester on 8th April. Forty
young people from schools across West Sussex were
guided by skilled practitioners in an exciting programme
including creative writing, illustration, music and
performance. The imaginative 6-11 year-olds used classic
tales to inspire wonderful new plots and characters
which were revealed to delighted parents in the day’s
finale song.
SAA has played a key role in securing £15,000 of Arts
Council England funding to run this year-long dancebased project in six special schools and a sixth form
college in West Sussex. The project involves a number
of other key partners, including professional dancers
from the Stopgap Dance Company and researchers
from the Education Institute at University of
Chichester.
The aim of the project is to raise levels of achievement
for children with special educational needs by
extending teaching approaches used in the performing
arts to other areas of the curriculum.
SAA is thrilled to be supporting this project which is at
the heart of the charity’s aim to extend arts and
cultural opportunities for disadvantaged children and
young people.
The schools and college involved are:
 Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee School, Horsham
 Manor Green College, Crawley
 Fordwater School, Chichester
 Oak Grove College, Worthing
 Woodlands Meed School, Burgess Hill
 St Anthony’s School, Chichester
 The College of Richard Collyer, Horsham
area and so has had to resign. We look forward to
welcoming a new chair following our July board meeting.
Get Involved!

Spread the word by forwarding this newsletter to
anyone who might be interested!

If you are, or your organisation is, interested in
what we are doing and would like to be kept
informed, just go to our website, click on
membership and become an SAA “networker” for
free.

If you are an arts practitioner in the community
and you want to work with children and young
people, or if you are part of an organisation that
Connecting practitioners to schools & colleges
wants to offer arts/cultural enrichment
We continue to attract interest from a number of artists in
the community who wish to use SAA to publicise their offer
to children and young people in schools and colleges. If you
are a practitioner and you would like to benefit from being
connected to 200+ schools in West Sussex, please get in
touch with Katy Lassetter.
get in touch with Katy Lassetter who will talk you
For those of you who are just starting up, we can provide
support in dealing with things like insurance and
safeguarding. We can also help you present your offer in a
way which responds to schools’ priorities. At the moment,
we are not making any charge for this service – so now is a
good time to get involved! We look forward to hearing from
you soon.
SAA people
programmes to children and young people, please
through the services we can offer.

If you are a school or college and you want to
access the programmes offered through SAA,
subscribe to e-PD in the first instance and then
watch this space!

If you want to support SAA – as a volunteer, to
offer your ideas about what we should be doing,
to make a donation, to offer venues, or in any
other way – then contact Katy Lassetter.
Kind regards,
David Sword, Operations Manager
Katy Lassetter continues to be our main point of contact so
please get in touch with Katy if you have any enquiries.
Contact us via Email
Francesca Leso has been working with us as a volunteer for
the past three months, funded through the European
Erasmus scheme. Sadly, her time with us runs out this
month. Both as an intern earlier this year from University of
Chichester and as an Erasmus volunteer from University of
Bologna, she has been a great asset to the charity. We wish
her well as she returns to complete her studies in Italy.
Like us on Facebook
Mike Coleman, who has been an excellent chairman of our
board since our incorporation, has moved away from the
copyright © 2016 Sussex Arts Academy, all rights reserved.
Follow us on Twitter
Like us on LinkedIn
Visit our website
Registered Charity Number: 1156174
Registered Office: Shaker House, Golf Links Lane, Selsey,
Chichester, West Sussex PO20 9DP