Friends Of BCAT
The Friends of BCAT was started to support the Birmingham Centre for Arts Therapies in its aim to provide a comprehensive Arts Therapies service to those in need.
We have an Appeal going on at the moment to raise money towards the BCAT Endowment Fund. This money directly subsidises the fees of clients who would otherwise be unable to have any kind of Arts Therapy.
BCAT needs friends! Friends who can support the centre and help raise funds.
Friends who will receive their own newsletter, library borrowing facilities and preferential rates on seminars, workshops, experiential courses and publications.
If you want to be a friend of BCAT fill in the form and return it to us. We will be very grateful for your donation and continued support.
To All Potential Corporate Sponsors
Stress and trauma are major problems in today's world. These can affect any of us, often seriously particularly where people are disadvantaged or disabled. The Birmingham Centre for Arts Therapies (BCAT) was set up in 1993 to adopt a pioneering and innovative approach to these problems, providing a range of quality art therapies throughout the west midlands.
BCAT is the only organisation in the country that can offer a full range of arts therapies, comprising Art Therapy, Dance Movement Therapy, Dramatherapy and Music Therapy. We believe that everyone can respond to the arts. We all have the capacity to find a creative experience to help our understanding of ourselves and to improve our communication with others. A centre of excellence has been created in the West Midlands with a national reputation, and we are proud to have among our Patrons some of the leading figures in the arts, education, medicine, and the local community, who fully recognise this.
Our limited resources, however, put the long-term future of this charity at risk. We need to raise funds of at least £50,000 p.a. to break even and guarantee our future to help obtain improved premises, to develop our education and research role, and to continue to provide relief to our many clients with special needs.
We are, of course, applying for further lottery funding; "we are now in the second stage" particularly the recently launched New Opportunities fund - but this cannot be enough by itself. Indeed, a successful application here requires fundraising from other sources, with a broad and continuous funding base - and this is why we are writing this to ask if YOU can help now. Any financial support will be vitally important, to supplement the commitment and hard work of our team of therapists and volunteer workers, so that we can continue our valuable work with disadvantaged and damaged members of the community, together with carers, parents, students and many others who have benefited from our services.
We know that you get many requests from other worthy causes for your support, but we would be very grateful if you could include us in your sponsorship plans. We would be delighted to send you any further information, or to visit you (or one of your colleagues) briefly to explain how our work can benefit so many people, and why you should support it.
Our future is in your hands, and we very much hope that you will be able to give us some much-needed support.