The Duncan & Toplis Foundation are delighted to be supporting the Newark Book Festival with grant funding.
Newark Book Festival is a not-for-profit literature and community organisation, that hold a four-day key festival in July in Newark, with supporting fringe events. In addition to the festival, the organisation run year-round community events including a schools programme, a volunteer, work experience and Young Ambassadors Scheme, a social Festival Friends membership, touring festival days and events around the district to rural locations, plus a mini Winter Wonderland in Newark in December.
The Duncan & Toplis Foundation grant funding will be used towards the Festival's growing education and community programmes with schools and pupils of all ages across the district by increasing literacy skills, building confidence, and developing creativity and aspiration through matching schools with authors, poets, wellbeing writers and illustrators for a series of workshops and talks.
Speaking of the difference that the grant will make to the festival, Sara Bullimore, Artistic Director said:
“We are delighted and thankful to the Duncan & Toplis Foundation for their continued support of the Newark Book Festival. We are facing a growing demand for work, and donations such as this allows us the capacity to do more, provide more paid work opportunities for our creative sector, and reach more children and young people, helping to provide them with life-changing and inspirational opportunities, using books, language, words and creativity as the stimulus.
“This funding is important to the Festival, as it will provide paid work for authors and artists as well as changing young people’s lives, who will have the opportunity to tell their own stories, take control of their own narratives, by engaging with fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and journalism. They will be inspired, develop literacy skills, confidence, well-being, language, and communication.
“This funding enables us to increase our reach of how many schools we work with. The demand is growing and we have started to operate a waiting list so this means that hundreds more young people will be able to take part in the lead in schools programme. Feedback from previous participants is high, with many reporting increased skills, opportunities, and wellbeing.”
Kay Botley, trustee of the Duncan & Toplis Foundation said:
“The benefits of the Festival are far-reaching; aside from the event itself, its continued support within our communities at grassroots level contributes to the development of not only our children but those in the creative space too. The Duncan & Toplis Foundation are pleased to be supporting such a worthwhile cause”.
For further information about the Newark Book Festival, please visit their website.
