It was ten years ago on the 18 April 2015, that I signed the paperwork to constitute Dingy Butterflies CIC as a social enterprise. We had actually been going longer than that with the work I had been doing with my PhD research in Gateshead exploring community engagement, followed by the Arts Council funded project the Spence Watson Archive Project. When I started we were 5 years into austerity and we were all meant to be part of the ‘Big Society’. Just another name for service cuts where paid jobs were turned into volunteering roles, and essential social work was meant to be done for free by the community. Now ten years later and it feels not much has changed. There are still cuts to essential services, child poverty, food poverty, nature depletion and attacks on minorities and the working class is ongoing. It feels like the work that we, and other organisations in the third sector do is as important as ever. Not to plug the gaps of services that should be there anyway, but to support those who need it, work with other community organisations and give people a voice in what is happening where they live.
To celebrate the ten years and to think about future work, we held a celebratory brunch on Friday 2 May at Bensham Grove Community Centre, the place where we started and have been inspired by. This event was a chance for people we have and are still working with to meet and celebrate, invite people who we would like to work with and think about where we would like to see ourselves in the future. We have also written a report about the last ten years and our plans for the future, which you can read here, Ten Years and Beyond.
If you want to find out more about what we do, what our plans are for the next ten years, and see how we could work together. Whether you work for an organisation, a funder, a resident of Gateshead, an artist, or whatever you do, we would love to hear from you. info@dingybutterflies.org
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