Debs, one of the Time for Kindness team, volunteers as a trustee of ArtCan, an organisation which supports artists by creating a community, giving opportunities to show and sell their work, and to develop their practices.
Debs told me that “This ties in well with my key values of creativity, collaboration, inspiration, support – and also fun! We can do a lot on our own, often more than we imagine. But when we have positive people around us who offer encouragement and kindness, share knowledge and opportunities, we can do even more.”
ArtCan celebrates its’ 10th Anniversary this year so they will have even more opportunities for artists to thrive.
We’re sharing this story as part of the #ChangeTheStory campaign from Reach Volunteering who are celebrating the humanity that exists in the world. From the campaign website:
The simple truth is that most of us care deeply about one another and the world around us. We see volunteers regularly give their time and their skills, to help others. And yet every day, we receive messages from our workplaces, from advertising and politics, and popular culture that people are primarily driven by ‘selfish’ values such as power, wealth and status.
Research by the Common Cause Foundation has found that 74% of people in the UK place greater importance on values like kindness, helpfulness and equality than values like wealth, achievement and ambition. However, most of us (77%) tend to underestimate others, assuming that people are more likely to place more importance on self-interested values than on values of justice and care. This is called the ‘perception gap’.