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The Ark T Centre

Creating Space for the arts

The Ark T Centre is a creative arts project where every week around 900 people share in its life through art workshops, dance classes, music, visiting the gallery and eating in the cafe. The Centre was opened in 1997 at the initiative of a church and a group of artists committed to creating space for the arts. It believes that creativity through the arts can allow people to discover new things about themselves and others and so unlock the potential for change.  Based in the premises of John Bunyan Baptist Church, Cowley, Oxford, the Centre has a recording studio for young musicians, rehearsal space for theatre and dance, a performance and concert area and art exhibition and studio spaces.

Visual Arts

Six resident artists include painters,
and sculptor. As well as developing
their own work they provide
opportunities through workshops,
enabling others to discover their
creativity sometimes for the first time.
 

A large space has been transformed into a café/gallery which hosts exhibitions by professional artists, local people and community groups.

In the safe environment of the gallery, some exhibitions have addressed issues such as abuse, racism, mental health and dementia. Exhibitions are often used as a focus and inspiration for worship

Music

The Youth Music Project offers a whole range of opportunities for instrument tuition, song-writing, composing, recording and performing. There are improvised jam sessions and regular gigs where skilled musicians play alongside those who are just beginning.

The hub of the project is the recording studio where young bands and musicians create CDs of their work or develop skills in music technology.

Whilst the majority of the work is with young people, there are also classes and workshops for adults, including people with learning difficulties.

Dance

Each week around 200 people share in dance where children as young as 2 years and adults up to 80 years join in. 

The contemporary dance groups often work with the other artists in the centre, drawing inspiration from their music or art and leading to exciting and collaborative performances. Intergenerational projects have brought together dancers of all ages and celebrate the gifts of those with physical and learning disability.

The Irish dance group holds on to a particular culture, fostering the tradition from a very young age. 

Broom Tree Café

Serving great food and excellent coffee, the Broom Tree Café is the natural gathering place for many people.

The café also offers a training venue for teaching catering, budgeting and basic food hygiene skills. Young people from local schools, people with learning disability and volunteers work alongside the paid staff.  In an after-school club children learn the importance of healthy eating and parents learn the importance of family meal times.

The café is a place to meet friends and eat good food and, taking its name from the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 19, it’s a place where the spirit as well as the body is fed.

Working on the margins.

The Ark T Centre is committed to working on the margins, redeeming people and places and collaborating with others

People do not expect to find an arts centre and gallery in Cowley, an industrial suburb in the shadows of the spires of Oxford.

Much of the creativity connects in some way with those that feel excluded, sometimes by physical or mental circumstance, or by lack of opportunity.

Artists work with young people caught up in crime to find positive community and develop creative skills. For these and many others, the
Ark T Centre seeks to provide a space and means where their innate creativity can flourish and lives can be transformed.

Redeeming people and places.

The Ark T Centre has grown through the willingness of a church to allow its building to be used and changed. 

An art gallery was developed from a disused corridor.
The old youth club room and the old choir balcony in the church became artist’s studios. A garden is home to three studio spaces and a vibrant café has been created in a church hall.

A young person who’s become involved with crime is helped to put things right and start again, a group of people who have lived with depression form an art group and hold an exhibition, after working as a volunteer in the café someone finds the confidence to return to work.

The Ark T Centre takes its motif from the Biblical story of Noah. Every kind of living creature found refuge in the ark and the rainbow tells of God’s promise of hope for the future. The message of good news seen through the life of Christ becomes the fulfilment of this promise which speaks to all and underpins the work of the Ark-T Centre.     

Collaborating with others

The Ark T Centre began with a church offering space to some local artists who, in turn, offered their time and skill to a church committed to working with its community.

Collaboration lies at the heart of the Centre’s life. A painting inspires a dance performance and musicians work with a film-maker. Staff from a local bank and office worked with a homeless project to transform the Centre’s garden.

An art exhibition inspires Christian worship and a church works with the arts. 

The Centre has grown through partnerships with local schools, agencies working with young people caught up in crime or excluded from education. Financial support has come through business, such as Barclays Bank, local and national government, the Church, trust funds and friends.

Mission Statement

The Ark T Centre is the initiative of a church and a group of artists committed to creating space for the arts.

It is committed to creating space for artists from different disciplines to develop their own vocation in a liberating environment that encourages mutual collaboration, understanding and involvement in the local and wider community.

It is committed to creating and transforming space for people of different age, gender, culture and tradition to express themselves through the arts in order to discover new things about themselves, other people and to unlock their potential to create change.

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