No, private hire classes have been and will continue to run as normal. These classes are run by hirers (practitioners who are not Harbour House team members) rather than the active programme delivered by the Harbour House team. You can find the classes timetable on our website. Our active programme has added free art and movement classes and workshops open to all of the community.

We recognise the important wellbeing benefit to these class participants and value working with diverse and talented practitioners. We will be seeking to strengthen these partnerships in the future and improve communication with our building users.

We apologise for any lack of communication with some community members, which may have caused some community members to have felt that they have not been consulted on the direction of the charity. The open meeting on Tuesday 14th May 2024 was an opportunity to share your views with us.

There have been many opportunities for all members of the community to engage with us as part of our community consultation process by participating in our free workshops and events. We have been actively consulting with the community in many other ways; for example by attending community meetings such as Town Council, Parents Teachers and Friends Association of schools, South Hams Community and Voluntary meetings, to gather feedback and ideas. We have sought advice and ideas from our partnerships with other community-serving organisations. At every engagement event we use feedback forms to gather thoughts and opinions - we have hundreds of written suggestions from community members this year alone, which we use to inform our programme. We also gather informal feedback and ideas at Kingsbridge-wide community events such as Kingsbridge Celebrates Christmas.

Other community members may have not attended the meeting as they may have used another form of feedback to share ideas with us, as many of them are under 18 or have children they may have had responsibilities which meant they could not attend, or they may be those with other barriers to access. The overwhelming feedback that has been received about our programme has been very positive, so they may not have felt the need to attend to share further views.

We now create and share a quarterly newsletter where all future community opportunities are shared. You can sign up to our digital newsletter here. We post about our programme and community engagement programme on social media; Facebook and Instagram, and our website multiple times a week.

Many of our activities are intergenerational, they are open to all and free. Come along to one of our workshops, you can find the full programme detailed in our newsletter and the What’s On section of the website.

Our charitable strategic aims which guide the engagement programme are: improving community cohesion, improving physical and mental health and wellbeing, increasing cultural development, reducing social isolation, and increasing environmental literacy.

Our activities have also been guided by feedback from community members: we have been told that community members would like more opportunities to come together with different generations; that they would like to celebrate local nature and respond to the climate crisis; and that they would like to celebrate LGBTQIA+ lived experiences.

We of course would love to work creatively with everyone in the community, but we do have limited resources and need to think about the ways in which our work can have the most impact. We are currently working with community groups who may not usually engage with art or movement practices, and may have many barriers to access to do so: these could be economic barriers, barriers because they are from a community of identity which is marginalised by mainstream culture, barriers of disability, etc.

We collaborate with other community-serving organisations who are expert in working with their community members to do this work. These partners include: Kingsbridge Community College, Kingsbridge Community Primary School, Kingsbridge Town Council, Kingsbridge Climate Action, Kingsbridge Celebrates Christmas, Kingsbridge Fair Week, Family Advice Support Team FAST, Next Steps Together CIC and Kingsbridge Natural History Society.

Harbour House is in no immediate danger of closing down. It is running at a deficit, as it always has done.

The Board of Trustees and the HH team are working to reduce the deficit and change the business model so that it is sustainable and meeting its charitable objectives going forward and serving the community for years to come.

The documented grant income falling was due to covid government response grants no longer being available.

Harbour House is run by a charity, Harbour House Trust.

Previously HH had been run as a passive business model, where community members and others could rent spaces at discounted prices – this was the extent of its activities and was not covering the basic running costs of HH. This was also not fulfilling the charitable objectives of the Trust.

In order to move towards an active model which will allow us to meet our charitable objectives, and to fundraise for HH, enabling us to stay open, we have reduced the passive programme that was not covering its costs.

Our fundraising plan means that we will be able to provide community art and wellbeing to the community members who are often underserved by the arts: community members who have barriers to access including socio-economic barriers, barriers of disability, etc. Many of the funded activities will be open to all. We are committed to a socially just programme which centres on inclusion.

We are moving towards a business model where active programme will be publicly funded and core costs covered by the commercial operations e.g. café, residential lettings and room hire.

We pay artists using guidance from a-n The Artists Information Company which offers suggested rates for fair payment for artists.

HH would not exist without Jo Pelly’s original vision and gift to the Kingsbridge community.

She set Harbour House up so that members of the community might benefit from art and yoga.

Jo Pelly’s involvement with HH ended in 2020, before many of the current team and board were in post. Although Jo Pelly has no formal involvement with HH currently and it is now run by a charity, Harbour House Trust, she remains a critical friend.

Yes, the team at HH includes those based in Kingsbridge, Salcombe and Plymouth.

The majority of the voluntary board members are based in the South West including five trustees who are actively involved in the Kingsbridge community.

Yes, since the new programme launched, we have shown work by local artists.

These have included Kingsbridge-based Catherine Seymour, Plymouth-based Rhys Morgan, Carly Seller, Tricia Stubberfield, Exeter-based Erika Cann and Cornwall-based Katharine Platts, Bronwen Buckeridge and Naomi Frears.

Work by members of the Kingsbridge community has featured in all of our exhibitions since the new programme began

Please see our brilliant new website www.harbourhouse.org.uk, or visit our socials: Instagram - @harbour.house.art.wellbeing, Facebook – Harbour House Centre for Arts and Yoga.

You can sign up for our quarterly newsletter in digital format via our website or collect a printed copy from the gallery.

Our learning and engagement evaluation statistics are posted monthly on our socials and on the notice board in the entrance to HH or speak to one of our friendly Front of House team.

Please attend our exhibitions, workshops and community events which are open to all and free. You can also support HH by donating money to Harbour House Trust, through the support page on our website.

We are very proud that all our exhibitions and community programme are free to attend and your donations will ensure this can continue.

We currently have partnerships with Kingsbridge Community College, Kingsbridge Community Primary School, the Care Hub, Kingsbridge Climate actions, Kingsbridge Town Council, Kingsbridge Celebrates Christmas, Kingsbridge Fair Week and F.A.S.T – all of our programme with these partners is free and targeted to support those in the community who need it most.

We are always keen to find new ways to work with the community, if you would like to talk to us about a potential partnership, hiring a space or collaborating on a project - Please contact info@harbourhouse.org.uk 

No, Harbour House is not a commercial gallery and it would not be appropriate for a charity to be supporting private commercial activity.