Volunteering City Funding Awarded To Amdani Conwy!
Wednesday 24th Apr 2024
An ambitious project to develop volunteering opportunities in rural communities and for people with disabilities has been awarded £247,000 from the prestigious Spirit of 2012 Volunteering City fund.
As one of the areas long-listed for City of Culture 2025 status Conwy was invited to bid for Spirit of 20121 Volunteering City funding.
Amdani Conwy! (Go Conwy!) is a partnership project by Conwy County Borough Council, Creu Conwy, Community & Voluntary Support Conwy and Disability Arts Cymru, which will focus on creating volunteering opportunities for people with disabilities and on creating new volunteering opportunities within our rural communities.
Cllr Aaron Wynne, Cabinet Member for Leisure and Culture said: “Creating a volunteer programme is an essential element of the Creu Conwy culture strategy.
“With Amdani Conwy! we want to create a new volunteering programme that’s inclusive and engaging, and supports Conwy residents and communities to thrive and flourish. We’re looking to develop volunteering opportunities that are more responsive, accessible, inclusive and fun.
“This funding will be absolutely transformational in terms of being able to create volunteer cultural ambassadors across the county.”
Conwy will receive £199,546, with additional funding of £48,305 to cover costs that reduce barriers for people taking part, such as access costs. The project is expected to last between two and two and a half years, finishing by the end of March 2025.
Ruth Hollis, CEO, Spirit of 2012 said: “I’m delighted to announce the grant for Amdani Conwy! (Go Conwy!) today and congratulate everyone involved in the application. We’ve known for some time now how volunteering delivers benefits for people, communities and places, benefits which have really come to the fore over the last two years of pandemic and lockdown.
“Big events like the UK City of Culture and the Commonwealth Games have created incredible volunteering legacies for their host cities, but these big-ticket opportunities are few and far between. An incredible amount of work, energy and passion goes into preparing City of Culture bids, and whether successful or not, they have the potential to grow and evolve, and give ‘cities’ the opportunity to build on existing provision to create a sustainable local volunteering programme.”
Wendy Jones, Chief Officer for CVSC said: “As CVSC celebrates its 25th anniversary year developing, supporting, and promoting voluntary activity across Conwy, it is very timely for us to look forward to future engagement within our communities, embedding the benefits of volunteering in quality voluntary opportunities which are open and accessible to all. This new inclusive Amdani Conwy project symbolises another successful funding bid and joint venture with colleagues from across the sectors, working to our strengths to improve wellbeing and community cohesion here in Conwy.”
Ruth Fabby MBE, Director of Disability Arts Cymru said: “Disability ARTS Cymru is delighted to be a part of this important work to ensure disabled and Deaf people can participate in cultural events as volunteers through the right level of support. We know from experience that these opportunities offer so much for personal development, but this project also has the edge in promoting disabled & Deaf people as leaders in their communities.”
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Amdani Conwy! Partner Information:
