Create Charity

What Create Charity does

Create (Arts) Limited, operating as Create, is a UK-registered charitable company limited by guarantee founded on 7 July 2003 by Nicky Goulder MBE. Headquartered in London with a regional office in Manchester, the charity operates across 35+ UK locations and delivers free, professional-artist-led multi-artform workshops — spanning animation, dance, drama, music, painting, photography, creative writing, and zine-making — to seven defined beneficiary groups: children in care and care leavers, disabled children and adults, schoolchildren in deprived areas, vulnerable older people, young and adult carers, prisoners, and young psychiatric hospital patients.

The operating model is a portfolio of 30+ named programmes (art:space, inspired:arts, change:matters, Inside Stories, Inside Change, creative:connection, changing:minds, creative:together, community:matters, art:links, creative:tandem and others), each tailored to a specific participant cohort and delivered in partnership with local charities, day centres, schools, hospitals, homeless shelters, and prisons. Workshops are led exclusively by professional working artists rather than volunteers, with each project individually designed and overseen by a Create project manager. Underlying infrastructure includes the Nurturing Talent training programme for emerging artists and the Making it Matter long-term impact evaluation framework, which revisits projects 6–24 months after completion.

The business model is donation-funded: revenue is generated from individual giving (one-time and monthly, with Gift Aid), corporate partnerships (British Land, Anthropologie, BNP Paribas Dream Up, smart, Jacksons Bakery, White Cube), trusts and foundations (Aesop Foundation, Garfield Weston, John Lyon's Charity, Wates Foundation), and fundraising events. All workshops are provided free of charge to participants. Since founding, Create has delivered 16,000+ workshops, reached 48,500+ vulnerable children and adults, and accumulated 132 awards since 2012.

Name

Create Charity

Legal name

Create (Arts) Limited

Website

https://createarts.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Create (Arts) Limited is a UK charity founded in 2003 that delivers free, professional-artist-led creative arts workshops — spanning dance, drama, music, painting, photography and writing — to disadvantaged and vulnerable children and adults across 35+ UK locations, funded by donations, corporate partners, and trusts.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Arts Charity Services

NAICS

Fine Arts Schools (61161), Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers (711510)

SIC

Services-Mailing, Reproduction, Commercial Art & Photography (7330), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Public Art, Arts Councils & Grantmaking Programs (BPAGAHAH)

akta.pro secondary industry

Community Arts, Culture & Creative Placemaking Enterprises (BPAGALAO)

Keywords

• Creative arts charity
• Community arts workshops
• Arts for wellbeing
• Inclusive arts programmes
• Social impact arts

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Donations and Fundraising: Create generates revenue through individual donations, corporate support, and fundraising activities. The charity accepts donations via its website with options for one-time and monthly giving, including Gift Aid functionality for UK taxpayers.
2. Trusts and Foundations: Funding from charitable trusts and foundations including Aesop Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation, John Lyon's Charity, Wates Foundation, and others.
3. Corporate Partnerships: Corporate support through partnerships with companies like British Land, Anthropologie, BNP Paribas Dream Up, and others who provide funding and support for specific projects.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Create is a UK creative arts charity that designs and delivers free, multi-artform workshops (music, dance, drama, painting, photography, animation, creative writing) led by professional working artists in partnership with local charities, day centres, schools, hospitals, prisons, and other specialist organisations. Programmes are tailored to vulnerable and disadvantaged participant groups including children in care, disabled children and adults, schoolchildren in deprived areas, vulnerable older people, young and adult carers, prisoners, and young psychiatric hospital patients.

Product overview

Create is a multi-award-winning UK charity offering creative arts workshops and programmes. Rather than a single product, Create operates a portfolio of named programmes tailored to specific participant groups: young carers (art:space, inspired:arts, change:matters), prisoners (Inside Stories, Inside Change, Free Inside), vulnerable older people (art:links, CREATIVE:ENGAGEMENT), disabled children and adults (creative:connection, changing:minds), LGBTQ+ young people (creative:together), marginalised children and adults (community:matters), schoolchildren in deprived areas (changing:spaces, connect:create), and young patients (creative:tandem). Supporting infrastructure includes the annual Create Week campaign, Create Live! events, Nurturing Talent training programme for artists, and Making it Matter impact evaluation initiative.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Create Week: An annual week-long campaign celebrating creativity, taking place from 1–7 July each year.
• Nurturing Talent
• Making it Matter

Products and services

• creative:space (art:space) Creative arts project for young carers providing workshops in dance, drama, music and visual arts to give young carers respite from their caring responsibilities.
• inspired:arts Multi-artform project for young carers offering photography, dance, drama, sculpture and song-writing workshops.
• change:matters Programme combining creative arts with financial literacy education for young carers, using music, animation, drama and photography to teach money management skills.
• Inside Stories Creative writing and illustration project for prison inmates, helping them write, record and illustrate original stories for their children.
• Inside Change Creative project that upskills prisoners about personal finances through creative arts workshops.
• Free Inside Multi-artform programme working within Psychologically Informed Environments for prisoners.
• My Parent's In Prison Project supporting children whose parents are in prison through creative storytelling and connection.
• art:links Creative arts programme for vulnerable older people, including those with dementia, using improvisation, visual arts and music to build skills and reduce isolation.
• CREATIVE:ENGAGEMENT Creative arts engagement programme for older people focused on wellbeing and connection.
• creative:connection Multi-artform programme bringing together disabled and non-disabled children to build connections and break down disability barriers through music.
• changing:minds Multi-artform project challenging preconceptions about children with special educational needs and disabilities.
• creative:discovery Creative discovery programme for disabled children and adults.
• exploring:sounds Music exploration project for children with special educational needs.
• more creative Sensory music project bringing together autistic and non-autistic children.
• creative:together LGBT Youth Creative Arts Programme exploring identity and self-expression.
• community:matters Multi-arts programme empowering marginalised young people, including care leavers and survivors of modern slavery.
• creative:tandem Creative arts programme for young patients in psychiatric hospitals.
• our:voices Creative arts project for children in care and care leavers.
• Nurturing Talent Training programme for emerging professional artists to develop skills in delivering community arts projects, sponsored by Anthropologie.
• Create Week Annual week-long campaign celebrating creativity and raising awareness about unequal access to the arts, featuring activities and resources across the UK.
• Create Live! Live creative events and experiences programme offering live performances and showcases from Create's participants.
• Making it Matter Impact evaluation initiative that revisits two projects each year 6-24 months after completion to assess the longer-term impact of Create's work.

Quantifiable outcome

• Research shows 81% of unpaid carers experience loneliness; Create's programmes provide respite and connection
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• AnthropologiecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCorporate partner that sponsors artists on the Nurturing Talent programme and supports creative:me projects. Partnership includes supporting artists and providing resources for projects.
• Carers TrustcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAnnual partnership for Young Carers Action Day, showcasing creativity of young carers across multiple projects.
• Brent MencapcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership delivering creativity programmes for people with learning disabilities.
• Jacksons BakeryminorGTM or Marketing PartnerNationwide Feeding Creativity campaign on three million loaves of bread across the UK.
• smart (Mercedes-Benz)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerArt Car collaboration celebrating the power of creativity.
• White CubeminorGTM or Marketing PartnerExclusive evening event with Sir Antony Gormley on 3 March 2022, raising over £25,700.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Apples and Snakes: UK spoken word poetry organisation delivering creative writing and performance programmes with marginalized communities. Comparable to Create's creative writing and storytelling focus with vulnerable groups.
• Clean Break Theatre Company: UK charity using theatre and the arts to support women affected by the criminal justice system. Comparable to Create's prison-based arts programmes (Inside Stories, Free Inside) and similar funding model.
• Live Music Now: UK charity delivering music workshops to vulnerable and isolated groups including older people, those with dementia, and people in healthcare settings. Directly comparable to Create's creative-arts-in-community model and target beneficiary groups.
• Music in Hospitals & Care: UK charity delivering live music programmes in hospitals, care homes, and hospices. Closely comparable to Create's healthcare-setting creative workshops and similar beneficiary base.
• Turtle Key Arts: UK charity delivering inclusive arts for young people with learning disabilities. Directly comparable to Create's disabled children and adults programme stream.
• Synergy Theatre Project: UK charity delivering theatre and creative programmes in prisons and with ex-offenders. Direct overlap with Create's criminal justice programme portfolio.
• Cardboard Citizens: UK theatre charity working with homeless and marginalised people, including those with experience of the criminal justice system. Comparable beneficiary overlap with Create's marginalised children and adults programmes.
• Open Theatre: UK inclusive theatre company working with young people with learning disabilities. Comparable to Create's creative:connection and changing:minds programmes for disabled participants.
• Rosetta Life: UK charity using the arts to support people living with life-limiting conditions and in healthcare settings. Directly comparable health-and-arts mission to Create's young psychiatric hospital programme.

Emerging players

• Koestler Trust: UK charity that promotes arts by prisoners and awards prizes for creative work in criminal justice settings. Adjacent to Create's prison arts programmes; Koestler has actually awarded Create's prisoner participants (14 awards in 2025), making it both an ecosystem partner and partial peer.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/watch?v=SRSfh8RRmmY
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/create-arts-ltd

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Create Charity