NATIONAL Lottery cash is to be out to community use in Thurrock over the next three years after a borough-based arts company secured funding.

is delighted to announce that it has been successful in securing funding from The National Lottery Community Fund and will receive a grant to develop the T100 Walking, Talking & Making Festival into a local community run organisation over the next three years.

Kinetika combines art, and in particular silk printing, with community projects to produce spectacular outdoor commissions that engage diverse audiences wherever we work.

Founded by artistic director Ali Pretty in 1997, and inspired by her training in carnival arts in Trinidad and India, Kinetika has earned a reputation for working with local communities on projects that change the way people feel about where they live.

Projects have included local community walks to ceremonial boulevards and local high streets across the UK, to the Great Wall of China and the heart of Kolkata in India.

In particular, innThurrock it has established a series of 'T100' festivals incorporating writing stories, recording history and linking various parts of the borough community.

The grant award of £134,000 from The National Lottery Community Fund will help Kinetika cement the partnerships forged over the last five years of T100 festivals with diverse local organisations including Thurrock Council and local authorities across the Thames Estuary, schools and colleges, Thurrock CVS, Royal Opera House in Thurrock, Tilbury on the Thames Trust, One Community Development Trust, Intu Lakeside and the Port of Tilbury, plus many community groups.

The grant will also allow the company to build new partnerships with environmental agencies, such as Thames 21, Rural Arisings and Natural England and developers PCRL in Purfleet to help improve the places and spaces that matter to Thurrock people.

The new funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, which distributes money raised by National Lottery players for good causes and is the largest community funder in the UK, will enable Kinetika to appoint a new two day a week co-ordinator for T100.

A spokesperson for Kinetica said: "Since T100 first began, it has established a track record of bringing people together and building strong relationships in and across communities.

"Diverse groups have made connections through walking and talking and in 2018 and 2019, through sharing food and recipes. T100 has invited walkers to 66 walks, designed and painted more than 135 silk flags, produced a book: Thurrock 100 Stories, staged comedia del'arte performances, culminated in the Tilbury carnival and walked across two counties bringing countless people to new places and revealing hidden gems in the landscape and local histories and stories."

The funding will enable T100 to develop into a community run local organisation, separate from Kinetika, but continuing to further the original aims of bringing people together, building connections through walking, talking and making, teaching new skills and boosting confidence in people and communities.

The festival will then endure beyond 2023 and be a lasting legacy of Kinetika's work in Thurrock

Plans for 2020 are underway: T100 Calling invites artists, grass roots organisations and walkers to respond to local issues faced in response to the global climate emergency. It is a call to action for communities to make changes to their local area and to creatively imagine their future. More details to be announced in the coming months.

Ali Pretty, Artistic Director, Kinetika said: "I'm absolutely delighted that we can build on the strong foundation we've laid with a growing team of T100 volunteers over the last five years. This grant enables us to plan for a longer term locally run initiative, and I hope this will leave a lasting legacy for Thurrock communities."

Jon Eastwood, Senior Head of Regional Funding at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: "We are delighted to fund this project, which is a fantastic example of people coming together to build new connections in their community.

"Thanks to National Lottery players, the T100 Walking, Talking & Making Festival will continue to expand and offer local people the chance to be creative, get outdoors and meet new people."

To find out more about Kinetica and the festivals click on the red button link below.