ONCA Crowdfunder

Aim

Donate to ONCA and help raise important funds towards our programme of environmental learning and action in 2020.

Who we are

ONCA is a Brighton-based arts charity that bridges social and environmental justice issues. With our public programmes, we create inclusive spaces for collaborative learning, artist support and community solidarity. We produce and promote creative projects and responses to the climate emergency, and use art to explore stories about the rapidly changing world and its endangered species, cultures and ecological communities.

We've been around for seven years at our city centre gallery, and a year ago we took over the Barge at Brighton Marina to create an eco-hub for East Brighton. The Barge is allowing us to deepen our work with children, families and local residents on environmental issues and their local impacts.

Why our project is important 

Things are changing fast. Recent UN reports on climate change and nature state unequivocally that the world has as little as ten years to change course on carbon emissions and consumption, and avert the worst of climate crisis and biodiversity loss. A 2019 poll by BritainThinks found that the environment is an area of fastest growing concern among UK residents. ONCA's work is more important now than it has ever been, and in 2020 we will work with groups who will benefit most from taking part in arts-based environmental learning.

Your donation will make a huge difference in 2020.

Where your money will go

Empowering children and young people. 

45% of children and young people live in poverty, and we know that children living in poverty are more likely to feel a sense of failure, feel unsafe and feel hopeless about their future. (East Brighton Neighbourhood Action Plan). With your support, we will offer a programme of creative educational workshops and events focusing on local biodiversity, marine conservation and climate change.

• We will hold our first children's art exhibition, open to all young residents across Brighton & Hove
• We will offer 50% of the spaces in our half term workshops on the Barge free to children and young people from low income families in East Brighton
• We will continue to dedicate support to our local Youth Strike 4 Climate group and other young people responding to the climate emergency, providing space for reflection, planning, networking, and workshops.

ONCA Barge community mornings. 

More than 1 in 3 people aged 75+ say that feelings of loneliness are out of their control (Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness, 2017).

Every Friday, we will provide a warm and inclusive space on the ONCA Barge for people experiencing social isolation to come together over cups of tea to meet their neighbours and our friendly staff and volunteers. Your money will help pay for refreshments, comfortable furniture and resources for environmental learning including books, art materials and board games. With your support we can offer these sessions for free.  

Addressing inequalities in the arts. 

Throughout the year, ONCA hosts residencies for artists who want to research and develop work in response to environmental and social challenges. In 2020 we want to offer two residencies specifically to artists who face barriers to involvement and employment in the arts, such as people of colour, the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities and people from working-class backgrounds. 

Contributing towards our core costs. 

We tirelessly work to fundraise to meet our overhead costs. Your support will make a big difference in helping towards staff development, volunteer recruitment and organisational growth. With your help we can continue our work.

Recent examples of our work

Generations, 2019

Some of Us Did Not Die, 2018

Visionary Fictions, 2018

Our Story

In 2007, ONCA’s founder Laura Coleman visited a small refuge in the Bolivian jungle, run by the NGO Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi (CIWY). There she met a puma called Wayra. Wayra had been a pet until she came to the refuge at ten months old. Over the years, Laura developed a friendship with Wayra. In 2011, Laura came back to the UK, and inspired by Wayra, had the idea for ONCA (Panthera onca is the scientific name for jaguar): a art space dedicated to exploring and making links between environmental and social issues. The gallery opened in Brighton in November 2012.

Over the last seven years, we've hosted hundreds of exhibitions and projects, and worked with thousands of people to raise awareness of some of the most important issues of our times. Last year we took on our second venue, the ONCA Barge, as a space dedicated to environmental education and action in East Brighton.

So please, donate today and help us to keep making amazing things happen in 2020.

Rewards

£10 or more - Thank you!
A team cheer and a thank you on our blog every time we receive a tenner! We appreciate every bit of support we can get.

£25 or more - ONCA Cat Postcard Set
A beautiful set of postcards designed by Sarah Edmonds

£50 or more - ONCA Cat Postcards & Badge Set
Cat postcards plus an ONCA Cat Badge Set by Sarah Edmonds

£100 or more - Print
An A4 giclee ONCA print by Sarah Edmonds

£250 or more - Print and Tote
An A4 giclee ONCA print by Sarah Edmonds and a high quality ONCA tote bag

£500 or more - Top Cat Blog Post
Any of the above, plus the invitation to write a blog post about your work on the ONCA website and reach thousands of readers.

£1,000 or more - Celebrate at our gallery! (Only 10 available) Want to celebrate a birthday or a special occasion with one of our exhibitions as a backdrop? Then pick this reward and we will offer you an evening at our city centre gallery with a first drink on us for you and your party (of up to 40 guests).

£2,500 or more - Team Away Day on our Barge (only 5 available) Need time away from the office for planning and reflection in 2020? Then select this reward and receive a Team Away Day package on the ONCA Barge, a unique and creative floating space at Brighton Marina. We will help you plan a bespoke artist-led day that helps you and your team meet your goals. 

£2,500 or more - Office Print Collection (only 5 available) If the walls in your office could be livened up with some artwork, then select this reward and you will receive a visit from our Gallery Curator who will come to your office with a selection of up to five ONCA prints (created by artists with whom we have worked over the years), and help hang them in your work space.

This project successfully funded on 2nd February 2020