Community Arts organisation Valley and Vale Community Arts has unveiled its new brand ‘Tanio’, alongside a mission to support communities in Cardiff and the valleys in the aftermath of Coronavirus.
Since the early 1980s – when Valley and Vale Community Arts was set up to help people in the Garw Valley document their experiences of the miners’ strike – it has championed the power of community arts to change lives.
The charity, which has rebranded to ‘Tanio’, offers safe environments where people can develop new skills, confidence and self-esteem through art. One such project is the Oasis World Choir and Band, a project for refugees and asylum seekers that runs out of Oasis in Splott. New Chief Executive Lisa Davies says that these services will become more important than ever in the aftermath of the Coronavirus outbreak. She said:
“This is a period of great uncertainty and anxiety for many people. Our experience of delivering community arts over the last four decades shows that giving people opportunities for creative self-expression can help improve mental health, and build resilience.”
As it prepares to deliver a range of new art programmes within communities across the South Wales Valleys the charity unveiled its new brand ‘Tanio’. Commenting on the new brand, Chief Executive Lisa Davies said:
“Our decades of delivering arts-based interventions to communities in need has shown us the power of art to create positive change. At an individual level, our work builds self-esteem and confidence, while at a community level, our work nurtures and strengthens groups, empowering people to support each other. We believe that our new name conveys that idea of sparking change and progress.
“Our new brand represents a significant change in the way we present ourselves to the world. We are changing because the world around us is changing.
“Our work will become more vital than ever in the weeks and months ahead. As an organisation, we were born during a national crisis to help people cope with a time of great upheaval and change. As we look ahead to the aftermath of the global Coronavirus crisis, we will be here to help our communities rebuild, giving them opportunities to express their hopes and fears through the power of art.”
