Community Arts Partnership (CAP) believes that community arts practice can bring positive change within society. CAP is the central point of contact for the community arts sector in Northern Ireland, offering the widest possible range of assistance to get creative. We also offer information, advice, support, research & advocacy for the sector & the community. CAP offers artist-facilitated socially inclusive cross art form workshop programmes, in a range of settings across the region. We host the Seamus Heaney Awards for New Writing and Achievement (Poetry in Motion Community and Schools programmes) host and convene the ArtsMatterNI campaign, and offer 100s of artist assignments annually across the fullest range of disciplines. 75% of our delivery is within the top quartile of deprivation in NI and in addition, we support BAME communities, disability groups, care-home residents, excluded youth and groups with particular medical needs like autism, dementia etc and the general public

Why the community needs us
We create new literature & verbal arts in schools & communities, visual & public arts, sculpture, performance arts, animation & film, all delivered with the highest quality of teaching & art production in our field. Recent highpoints include the 7th years Seamus Heaney poetry award, publishing our Arts & dementia research, 300 artists signing up for our online artists' database, CAPtabase, the Making it events for our Programme for Intercultural Arts Support & our new Intercultural arts reader.

Our impact on the community
In 2019/2020, we have 313 artists, 469 groups, 3,010 subscribers to our Weekly e-bulletin & an audience of 400,000. The Arts Council of NI describes CAP as its "long term expert partner in community based arts activity". We create huge societal, personal and creative benefit, offering value for money for funders and we provide creative opportunity at little or no cost to over 5,500 participants annually.

The Impact of Covid 19

The impact of Coronavirus is being felt in every home, on every street, in every corner of the world. All of us are anxious for those we love and the lives we lead. We may all be fearful too but we are hopeful for better days. We acknowledge the hard work of those who help us and those who endure great suffering and loss.
The creative team at CAP are asking you to help us enable our community groups and schools to show our love, our humanity and our resilience and at the same pay tribute to the memory of those taken before their time. We have themed this year #TakeHeartMakeArt across all our projects, from old people's residential care, to 30 schools and 79 community organisations, and indeed the general public.

Given the challenges of now having to work much more remotely, we will have to assist our community organisations and schools to take part in programmes via digital platforms. We struggle for resources at the best of times, and these are far from the best of times.

Please help if you can.