Red Dreams' Retro Vision

Aim

Red Dreams' Retro Vision visual arts centre will transform opportunities for disadvantaged youth with a bright future. Seeing is believing.

Red Dreams' Retro Vision

Red Dreams is a charity based in Hartlepool that works with and supports disadvantaged young people aged 11-19 through the creative arts and media. Red Dreams is an organisation that is driven by the creativity of all of the people who participate, and the memory of Kyle McManus, a talented boy with a great imagination. We have grown so quickly over the last 6 years, and we realise that we are limited only by our imagination, and spurred on by Kyle's ideas.

We are crowdfunding in order to invest in new facilities and equipment, providing young people in often challenging circumstances, with the opportunity to gain valuable experience and skills within the creative arts. 

What is Red Dreams?

The charity's community arts facility houses recording studios, media editing equipment/ software, rehearsal rooms for bands and vocalists and more. We began in 2008 with 5 volunteers and 20 young people, and opened our new facility in 2013 with 30 volunteers supporting 130 young people. A year later and the figures jump to 40/200 with 12 young apprentices employed through the Creative Employment Programme. We have received a few local awards which championed our volunteers and young people, and recently, due to the apprentices, we came second in the 'Creative and Cultural Skills' Employer of the Year' awards and were highly commended for 'Innovation with Technology and Young People'.

We recently launched our own label 'Otiss Music' to enable young people as young as 13 to write, produce, record and publish their own music, and earlier this year, with support from local businesses we opened a community music and arts venue 'The Pluto Room' where we hold gigs, theatre shows, parties and events. Due to increased interest in visual arts we now have to double up in the largest of our rehearsal rooms, to include backdrops for photo shoots and filming which isn't ideal, as well as externally hiring space to film music videos or larger film and photography projects.

The Future of Red Dreams

We are passionate about what we do and pride ourselves on being accessible to all, with a session price of just £1 per week as well as placing value on the quality of service and facilities offered.

To do this we always attempt to keep up with new technology or practices within the creative industries to enable our beneficiaries, whether they are young people, volunteers or apprentices, to gain real world training and experiences to enable them to further their own creative goals and ambitions. We have industry standard equipment and software for music making and although we have computers and programmes for visual editing, our set up is small, time consuming and amateur.

With this in mind, we need to create industry standard photographic and film making facilities (Retro Vision) by transforming space into a photographic studio with infinity walls and ceiling mounted light pulley systems, as well as a room or section with Chroma key green walls. This will not only give our young people a state of the art one stop shop facility, but will also increase their knowledge and skills to a level where higher education and employment are a reality.

Why are we Crowdfunding?

We have decided to raise money through Crowdfunding to enable our young people, their families and the community as a whole to invest in the future of Red Dreams and its young people, and become an integral part of what we do.

Deprivation in Hartlepool is at its highest level, putting us in the worst 4% of the country. Over and above factors such as poverty and unemployment comes the austerity measures which, via disproportionate cuts of £28.9 million equating to £-680 per household means that families and young people cannot participate in cultural or educational activities unless given low cost and effective opportunities to become engaged and involved. Just 13 pledges of £30, or 8 pledges of £50 each day would transform the facilities and creative chances of disadvantaged young people, enabling them to build confidence and abilities that they can take forward into education and employment. That small investment in a child's potential, or positive activities in the community really can make a huge difference.

There are no facilities or projects like this in the wider North East outside of statutory organisations; by creating the film and photo studio 'Retro Vision' with your support, we are creating an exciting and bespoke centre of excellence within the creative arts. A centre where disadvantage is just a word. A centre accessible to all. A centre that YOU can be proud of.

Patrons

Since the start of the year we have been overwhelmed with industry support via patrons and awards. We acquired our first patrons with local comedian Patrick Monahan coming on board first, followed by musician Frank Turner and band Enter Shikari; then, to our obvious joy, the director of The Descent, Dog Soldiers and episodes of Game of Thrones Neil Marshall pledged his support. See our website for more details.

http://www.reddreams.org.uk

In Memory of Kyle

Red Dreams began in 2008 following the sudden and tragic death of Kyle McManus who suffered a fatal brain haemorrhage aged just 16. Kyle's parents founded the charity as a way to continue supporting creatively talented young people, as they would have done for their only child. Everything we do is in Kyle's memory, and the names Red Dreams, Otiss Music, The Pluto Room and now Retro Vision are named after ideas, drawings and writings that he produced, keeping him central to the ethos and values of Red Dreams and it's beneficiaries; and forever at the forefront of our drive and passion.

Thank you for your support, please pledge today and help us spread the word!

Follow us on Twitter or find us on Facebook. Watch our Otiss Music YouTube channel.

Find out more about rewards

Our rewards are designed with you in mind. You are supporting us in an amazing way and we of course want to make sure that you get your money's worth! We have something for everyone from just £5 up to £1,800 catering to personal tastes and corporate budgets.

• Smaller pledges of £5 or £10 will receive public thanks as well as limited edition key rings and fridge magnets (limited ONLY to this crowdfunding project).
• To listen to music from Otiss Music artists to help choose should you make a £20 pledge, visit www.otissmusic.com
• Kyle had lots of random drawings and characters and to receive a copy of his artwork, something nobody else will ever own, you can pledge just £30.
• For just £50 you will receive CD copies of all of the EP's and music released so far on Otiss Music (usually download only).
• For our £150 photoshoot pledge why not treat a family member (or yourself) and have that family portrait that you always say you should get? We even allow pets! Or just make someone's birthday, christening, anniversary or Christmas really special this year.
• If you want something a bit different for your loved one(s), then our £500 pledge is a fantastic package. A professional make-over and photo shoot is wonderful by itself, but you also get to record 3 songs (to backing tracks) as well as being filmed throughout the day for a DVD of your experience. You will then (within 1 week) receive the DVD, CD and a disc with your photos in a personalised case, along with two of your favourite prints...phew!
• For just £1,000 musicians can record an original EP with live musicians which will be mixed, mastered and released through Otiss Music. Not only that, but we will get in on the playlist at local station Radio Hartlepool and either play it, or invite you to perform it live at an event in our venue, The Pluto Room!
• If your talent lies within film making the another amazing pledge for £1,000 is to have us read and develop your short film (10 minute), then film it with local actors, create an original music score, produce a DVD and hold a red carpet film premiere before sending it to a short film festival

We are not forgetting our corporate friends and have pledges designed just for you!

• Our £300 pledge will see us create a plaque that you can display, thanking you for being a supporter; not only that, we will also have a plaque in our reception thanking you too!
• For £600 we will write, film and produce a 30 second promotional film or advertisement for general use, and will even play it at the end of music video's released by Otiss Music.
• Finally for £1,800 pledged, we will work closely with you to write, film and produce a 30 (max) minute documentary or training video that promotes your business, ethos, health and safety or any other issue or project you wish to highlight.

EVERY PENNY REALLY DOES MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE - THANK YOU!

This project closed unsuccessfully on 12th September 2014