Message from Dieneke Ferguson, Hidden Art Director:
We are very sad to have to inform you that after 22 years of supporting designer-makers and designers, Hidden Art will unfortunately no longer be able to offer that support. We will be ending all our support programmes at the end of September 2011. However the E-Shop will continue and further details will be avaiable shortly. The website will change as well after 6th January 2012. .
With the closure of the London Development Agency(LDA), and other funding issues, it has now become impossible to continue helping designers turn their passion into products. We receive 50% of our funding from the European Regional Development Fund, but this will end at the end of September. Over the last years with no funding to match the ERDF money Manuel Ruiz-Adame, the finance director, and myself have been contributing the missing funding personally.
We have exhausted all the available options, applying to many different funding sources, but this has not resulted in anything. It’s also a risky strategy, as much of the funding available at the moment is from private investors, who expect a return which we might not be able to pay back.
Unfortunately, in the current climate there is little money available to support small businesses in the creative sector. Our initiatives are heavily subsidised and are not possible without support.
To see the package that we are offering to existing members please click here.
Trying to raise funding has been extremely exhausting, particularly since January, having submitted many funding applications and trying our hardest to find a way to keep Hidden Art afloat.
Manuel and myself will still be in the office after September, probably for another 3 months. My plan is to go back to undertaking consultancy work through Mazorca Ltd, the private company from which Hidden Art developed. But we will continue the E-Shop. I need to take it a bit easier, as I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma - a cancer of the bone marrow - about 3 years ago. The last half year has been too stressful.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email me on Dieneke@hiddenart.co.uk You can also call the office on 020 7729 3800.
Thank you to all of our members and everyone who’s been involved with Hidden Art over the years – we are proud of what we’ve achieved, and wish you all the best for the future. If you’d like to let us know what Hidden Art has meant to you over the years, we’d love to hear your stories on our blog, on Facebook, or on Twitter.
Thank you as well to those who have supported or funded us over the years. For a full list of funders see below. We are much indebted to all of them and would not have been able to offer the support we have if it weren’t for them.
Thank you as well to the Hidden Art Board and its Chair Paula Kahn who have supported and advised us over the years. Also a big thank you to the Hidden Art team that have managed a great and varied programme since January.
Dieneke Ferguson
Founder/Chief Executive, Hidden Art
100% Design
291 Gallery
Accelerator
Applied Arts Agency
Arriva Buses
Arts Council England
Arts Unwrapped
Artsline
Ballymore
Bibliotech
Birkbeck College
Bishopsgate Space Management
Bombay Sapphire
Bridge Estate Agents
Briffa
British Chamber of Commerce for Italy
Broadway Market Traders Association
Business in the Community
Business in the Community - Prohelp
Business Link
Business Link Hertfordshire
Business Link London City Partners
Cabinet UK
CAN
Canary Wharf Ltd
Central Hall Trust
Central Stephney SRB
Chris Chapman
CIDA
Cilntec
Ciry Fringe Partnership
Cityside Regeneration
Clerkenwell Green Association
Clerkwenwell Workshops
Clifford Chance
CMS Cameron McKenna LLP (Solicitors)
Coin Street Community Builders
Coley Porter Bell
Community Action Network
Computer Access
Cordwainers College
Courvoisier the Future 500
Crafts Council
Creative Links
Creative London
Currell Estate Agents
Daily Telegraph House and Garden Fair
Dalston City Partnership
Dalston Town Centre
Design Museum
Designers Block
DesignNation
Digital Bridge
Discover Islington
Docklands Light Railway
East Eight
East London Business Alliance
East London Partnership
Environment Trust
Esmee Fairbairn
EU Obj 2 Programme
European Social Fund
Excel
Festival of Evolution and Interiors, St Petersburg
Field Fisher Waterhouse
Focus Central London
Furniture Link
Furniture Works (London Metropolitan University)
Fusion East
Gallery@Oxo
Geffrye Design Centre
Geffrye Museum
Tamsin |Godfrey
GOL (East London and Lee Valley obj 2 Programme)
Government Office for London (ERDF)
Hackney 2000
Hackney Chamber of Commerce
Hackney Community College
Hackney Contemporaries
Hackney Council
Hackney Education Business Partnership
hackney Historic building Trust
Hackney Museum
Hackney Society
Hackney Task Force
Haggerston Partnership
Haggerston SRB
Hannah Maughan
Heart of Hackney
innovatory
Institute of Materials
Islington Council
J & B Rare
Jessie Higginson
Katie Bunnell
Kemp Little LLP
Kingsland Shopping Centre
Kingston University
LB Waltham Forest
Knowledge East
Laburnum Boat Club
Niamh Lamont
Laurent Perrier
LB Newham
LB Hackney CSD Internet Services
Leaside Buses
Leaside Travel
Letec
London and Capital
London Arts Board
London Borough of Hackney
London Business Link
London City Airport
London Design Festival
London Metroolitan University (Metropolitan Works)
London Metroolitan University (Polymer Centre)
london Regional Supply Network
London Remade
London Transport
London Waterways Partnership
LSC London East
Lux Centre
Manual Writers International
Martin Clarke Propertyy Consultancy
MAS
Mazorca Ltd
Metro New Media
Mile End Park
Momart
Newham College of Further Education
Oblique
ondon Development Agency
Own-It
Paintworks
Partners in regeneration
Peabody Trust
Purves & Purves
Regional Supply Network
Renaisi
Rich Mix
Round Chapel
Salisbury College
Salone Satelite
SBC Warburg
Sedgwick
Sheryll Webb
Shoreditch New Deal Trust
Shoredith Town Hall
Signha
Small Business Service
Small Business Service (Phoenix Development Fund)
SMC Warburg Dillon Read
Solicitors Pro Bono Group
Spitalields Space Management
Sptaifleids Town Management
Stirling Ackroyd
Stoke Newington Midsummer Festival
Tardis Studios Ltd
TechGate
The Dock
The Prince's Foundation
Time Out
Toureast London
Tower Hamlets 2000 Signature Project
Tower Hamlets Council
Trereife
TS2K
UBS Warburg
UK Trade & Investment
University College Falmouth
VET
Well-made
Wharf Developments
Zetter