Ministry Of Stories And With One Voice (Streetwise Opera) Win The 2018 Achates Philanthropy Prize

Tthe winners of the 2018 Achates Philanthropy Prize, the only annual Prize that celebrates first-time cultural giving in the UK, were announced last night at a special event hosted by the eminent cultural philanthropist, Sarah Kowitz DL, at London's Roundhouse.

The winners were selected by an independent judging panel that included: Régis Cochefert, Director of Grants and Programmes at the Paul Hamlyn Foundation; Marcus Davey, Chief Executive and Artistic Director of the Roundhouse; Anisa Haghdadi, Founder and CEO of The Beatfreeks Collective; Clare Titley, Director of Philanthropy at Arts Council England; Rt Hon Ed Vaizey MP, the former Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy; and Tom Watson, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

Founder of the Prize, Caroline McCormick, said: "The winning nominations exemplify the value of the arts and their role in society, but also the very real challenges which urgently need to be addressed to develop an understanding that these organisations are charities which need support to continue their important work. Both they and their supporters are pioneers of a change which must be brought about if we are not to face a future of a country that only has art where there is wealth".

The Individual Philanthropy Award: Cultural organisations across all art forms were invited to nominate an outstanding individual or trust who has given philanthropically towards their organisation for the first time within the last 12 months, at all levels of giving.

The Individual Philanthropy Award, sponsored by Spektrix, was won by Ministry of Stories & John Gillman and Mary Winch.

John and Mary were nominated by the literature charity for donating an unrestricted gift of £1000 - their first donation to a cultural organisation - to support Ministry of Stories' mission to champion the writer in every child, and its specific work to reach young people from East London who face barriers and/or have limited opportunity to develop a love of writing within mainstream education.

The couple are regular theatre and arts attenders but viewed culture as separate to their charitable giving. The judging panel agreed that their story reflected a key issue facing arts organisations across the UK: that regular charitable donors often do not realise that most arts organisation are charities too. The judges praised Ministry of Stories for successfully articulating the charitable aims of its work, and role in society, to engage and inspire new supporters.

John Gillman and Mary Winch were selected from a shortlist of ten outstanding first-time cultural donors: Northern Ballet & Jolyon and Carol Harrison; The Old Vic & Richard and Annie Kleiner; The Plough Arts Centre & Lindsey and Nigel Timms; Theatre Uncut Productions & Vicky Graham; The Yard Theatre & Joanna Kennedy - voted on by an independent judging panel: Régis Cochefert; Marcus Davey; Cerian Eiles, Achates Philanthropy Associate; Nigel Farnall, winner of the 2016 Achates Philanthropy Prize; Claire and Ray Gard, winners of the 2017 Individual Philanthropy Award; Caroline McCormick, Director of Achates Philanthropy; Michael Nabarro, co-founder and CEO of Spektrix; Aliceson Robinson, Foundation Trustee and Young Philanthropy champion; Bill Swainson, Foundation Trustee and Chair of the panel; and Tom Watson MP.

John and Mary were presented with a sculpture by the renowned British artist, Peter Brooke-Ball MRBS. As the winning philanthropists, they will be custodians of the sculpture for one year. Ministry of Stories received a £5,000 donation from the Achates Philanthropy Foundation which will be allocated towards its expanded writing clubs programme with local schools.

Kirsty Telford, Deputy Director, Ministry of Stories: "The team is over the moon that John and Mary have won this award. We were delighted to welcome them into our family of supporters and they have already offered so many ideas and contacts that could help us raise our profile in the local area and in the City of London. Our charity was founded on the ambition and hard graft of our community and funded through the generosity of a group of donors and funders who really understood what we were trying to achieve in those early days. Without their belief and investment in our vision, we wouldn't have been able to grow, develop and champion the writer in every child. So to those individuals and funders, and to both John and Mary, a big thank you from us and most importantly, from our young writers. Only with your help are we able to keep our clubs free for local children."

John Gillman and Mary Winch: "We were captivated from the outset when we visited the Ministry via the 'Hoxton Street Monster Supplies' shop. This splendid device to engage children immediately told us that we would encounter something special and that certainly turned out to be the case. We both believe passionately that allowing young people to set loose their imagination at an early age can be critical for their future development. We hope our financial contribution will help the Ministry to spread its influence even wider and have recently committed to giving them £100 per month - indefinitely. We were surprised and delighted to hear that we have won the Achates Prize".

The Corporate Award: Cultural organisations across all art forms were invited to nominate an outstanding company of any size which has supported their organisation for the first time within the last 12 months, at all levels of giving.

The Corporate Award, sponsored by BOP Consulting, was won by With One Voice (Streetwise Opera) & Laing O'Rourke.

With One Voice, the international arts and homelessness movement founded by Streetwise Opera, first approached Laing O'Rourke to become a sponsor of the first-ever International Arts and Homelessness Summit & Festival across Greater Manchester from 12-18 November. The Dartford-based construction company agreed to contribute £5,000 cash and £5,000 in-kind to the creation of a public mural, as one of the Festival's flagship activities, as well as consultancy and project management expertise.

The judges praised the long-term impact of this new partnership, which has resulted in the implementation of a new strategic approach by Laing O'Rourke to tackle the ever-more prevalent issues surrounding homelessness in the areas in which they work. Once developed, the scheme will be piloted in Greater Manchester, ahead of its national roll-out.

Laing O'Rourke were selected from a shortlist of seven outstanding companies which have supported the arts for the first time within the last 12 months: The Museum of Architecture & Finsa; National Centre for Writing & WREN and FCC Environment; The National Youth Theatre & L&Q; The Roundhouse & Panmure Gordon; World Heart Beat Music Academy & EcoWorld Ballymore - voted on by an independent judging panel: Robert Addison, winner of the 2017 Corporate Award and Managing Director of Hexham and Northern Marts; Anthony Blackstock, one of the UK's leading experts in finance for cultural organisations and Chair of the panel; Claire Bodanis, founder and director of Falcon Windsor; Anisa Haghdadi; Callum Lee, Managing Director of BOP Consulting; Caroline McCormick, Director of Achates Philanthropy; Libby Penn, digital specialist working across the cultural sector; Clare Titley; Rt Hon Ed Vaizey MP; Vivien Wallace, former Executive Director of Development at The Old Vic; and Dagmar Walz, Foundation Trustee.

Laing O'Rourke were presented with a sculpture by the renowned British artist, Peter Brooke-Ball MRBS. As the winning philanthropists, they will be custodians of the sculpture for one year. With One Voice received a £5,000 donation from the Achates Philanthropy Foundation which will be allocated towards the Summit & Festival legacy, including developing a Cultural Partnerships Framework in Manchester, linking arts organisations to homelessness organisations.

Matt Peacock MBE, Director, With One Voice: "We are truly honoured to have won this year's Corporate Award and to be able to celebrate Laing O'Rourke's stellar and generous work; without the LOR team our mural project couldn't have come to fruition. I am particularly proud of how we worked, seeing eye-to-eye and really feeling as equals, learning from each other. We were incredibly lucky to be one of their 2018 projects and I cannot wait to witness the ripple effects of this collaboration."

Danielle, Aaron, Sam, Mark, Dave and Craig, Laing O'Rourke: "What an unexpected honour it was to learn that we have won the Achates Prize - we feel very privileged and exceptionally grateful! Working in close partnership with With One Voice over the last 6 months has really helped us to open our eyes and our minds to a sector we would not typically have much interface with in our day jobs. It has taught us to adapt our way of thinking, really helping us to galvanise a much more informed understanding of such a politically relevant topic in homelessness, but more importantly how impactful use of the arts can be to positively tackle the issue and empower members of the homeless community. It has been a real pleasure and we hope the partnership between our respective organisations long continues."

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