Our Story

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Creating opportunities, together.

Bridge Creative turned 3 in April 2021. Leading up to our 3rd Birthday we worked with Power to Change's Powering Up programme who ran a visioning exercise with us. We included the people we support, the team, and board of directors to create a new vision statement which says exactly what we do and is accessible for the people we support. We aim to review our Vision every 3 years.

Our mission is to create opportunities that remove barriers to employment for adults with learning disabilities, encourage creativity and social responsibility, add value to the community and support people to reach their potential.

We also aim to support events and festivals to improve their social responsibility by supporting them to provide opportunities for adults with learning disabilities and autism.

You don't have to be artistic to be creative, creativity can come in many different forms. We're all about thinking creatively and being innovative to achieve our aims.

Creativity – A creative mind is a healthy mind, we promote imagination, creativity and innovation.

Respect – Respecting our team, communities and stakeholders with good moral principles. Respecting the environment because we can’t do much if we haven’t a planet to do it on.

Equal – A value so important to us that it empowers everything we do at Bridge Creative. Everyone should be treated fairly and have equal access to opportunities.

Adventurous – Having a fun, optimistic outlook, exploring bold new ideas and experiences.

Team – Collaboration is the key to success. Our directors, staff, volunteers, Creatives, our community and everyone involved in Bridge Creative work together to make a difference.

Innovative – Original, fresh ideas and approaches. Using new knowledge and skills alongside our core values in order to grow and help beat the stigma, celebrating peoples’ qualities and achievements.

Vision – Having a clear vision of the needs of our communities and a vision of the future.

Empowering – Being passionate about inspiring positive change and encouraging people to reach their potential.

Bridge Creative was set up to improve employment opportunities for adults with learning disabilities and/or autism across County Durham. County Durham has one of the highest rates of unemployment among adults with learning disabilities in England, with just 10 adults in any form of paid employment, in a County with over 500,000 population.

Bridge Creative was founded by Ben Tinkler after organising a music festival in County Durham, and supporting a young guy with a learning disability (who attended the day service he worked at) to work at the festival. Seeing the impact it had on that person's life, and realising that there were so few employment opportunities for people with learning disabilities in the area, Ben decided to set up Bridge Creative.

4 years on, and Bridge Creative have supported over 200 people with learning disabilities and/or autism across County Durham and Darlington, working with them to improve confidence, gain real work experience and skills, stay safe and well during the Covid-19 pandemic, be more connected with their communities, and ultimately improve their lives in general and move closer to finding a paid job.