IAP Founder Mhari Robinson and IAP’s Board of Trustees are going to be completing a 24hr Board Games “marathon” to raise funds for a project that celebrates play for folk who are often told that they don’t play properly or find mainstream play spaces inaccessible.
Our trustees are volunteers who give their time to oversee the running of our arts organisation, which is based in Leith & presents a variety of arts experiences for folk across Scotland. This is them:
Why are we asking for support now?
Delays in funding outcomes from Creative Scotland (from October 2024 to end of January 2015) and an intensely competitive context for grants funding across the UK, mean we’re really unsure what our future looks like.
We don’t know what we’re going to be able to achieve from 1st April 2025. All 10 staff contracts including those of 7 part-time artists end on or before 31st March.
We’ve submitted multiple applications that are awaiting outcomes and having many more planned but there is no guarantee of success and a limit to how many we can complete while also delivery performances, development of new projects, and supporting our staff team.
This autumn, we have a show touring schools in the Northern Isles (Orkney this week, Shetland next week); artists working on multi-sensory workshops in a Dundee School with young people with complex needs in a swimming pool making music with live instruments and through underwater speaker; and development of an inclusive sensory cabaret for artists and audiences that would normally find that experience inaccessible. It all stops on 31st March without support.
If we don’t ask for support now, we could find ourselves unable to deliver any projects next year, or having to close the organisation all together.
Context for arts community
The truth is that we’re only one small organisation out of 281 arts organisations whose futures are unknown due to delayed funding decisions, a 4 year delay to core funding, and declining budgets and sources of funding across Scotland causing stagnation and decline.
The wider impact on freelance artists, creative production & arts workers who earn their living through the arts is enormous. There is no emergency funding now yet the arts are at risk of collapse.
IAP exists to collaborate with artists and communities to enable new creative projects to come to life. Function Schmunction is just one of those projects. Over 6 and a half years we’ve supported many shows and creative projects by raising money, managing projects, and bringing people together to share ideas, stories on stages, in schools, community spaces.
What is Function Schmunction?
Function Schmunction is the creation of artist & playworker Max Alexander – an interactive and co-created play space where autistic folk of all ages can celebrate, and create opportunities for, authentic play, joy & connection.
Function Schmunction is an interactive play space made especially for, with & by autistic people of all ages. Developed by Max Alexander and co-created through lots of 1-to-1 play sessions with autistic people exploring what play meant for each of them. The resulting play space was presented in Edinburgh in 2023 and feedback was really incredible.
Function Schmunction was in part a response to many years of Max being told by adults supporting the autistic children he worked with that they ‘don’t play’ or ‘don’t play properly’. Max wanted to respond to this in a way that centred authentic autistic play, creativity and experience.
You can read more about the project and donate via the link here: https://bit.ly/IAP-fundraiser
PS – We completely understand that not everyone who reads this will be in a position to donate. Please don’t feel pressure to give something you don’t have. Feel free to share with your network if you can.
