What we do
Animate Arts is a national award-winning arts company making high quality participatory art projects, working creatively with people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds.
We work with people of all ages, from early years, children and young people to families and whole communities, bringing people together through art projects and creative workshops.
We work in all kinds of settings, in schools, museums and cultural spaces, indoors and out.
We connect our participants with professional artists, performers and creatives, build teams and work collaboratively to create.
We pride ourselves in raising participants’ self-confidence, building relationships and developing life-long skills.
Animate Arts Company has…
- Worked with 80,000+ children and 400+ schools
- Overseen the creation of 10,000+ artworks
- Shared work with 100,000+ people through live audiences
- Delivered projects that resulted in 98% increase in wellbeing and happiness
- And our flagship programme Art Builders engaged 7,500+ participants in 2019 alone
What we believe
- We believe passionately in the power of the arts to engage, motivate, empower and inspire
- We believe that forming friendships and sharing positive experiences with unlikely, diverse and new people enriches our lives and helps us to better understand different cultures and live more happily together
- We believe in creativity as a powerful tool for creating happiness and wellbeing
- We believe that creativity is a life-long, transferable skill needed now more than ever before
What we are known for
- We are known for making just about anything from paper and cardboard
- We are known for getting people creative by building magical walk-in worlds
- We are known for building partnerships and engaging participants in meaningful ways
- We are known for creating unique art opportunities and memorable experiences
- We are known for being surprising! (we encourage people to make things in bigger, better and more extraordinary ways than anyone first imagined…)
Sustainability and Us
- Our environments are precious to us. Cardboard and paper are wonderful and we create extraordinary art works from these everyday materials
- We teach people to re-use, recycle and re-invent how we use our waste, encouraging greener lifestyles
- We work with local businesses and communities to source cardboard and paper supplies and repurpose their waste in our projects
- We look to inspire people to rethink how they create art and how to use household materials in creative ways
- Our work reflects our belief that our living, learning and working environments are important; they help us grow and positively thrive, and help us all to fulfil our potential
Who We Are
Founded in 2002, Animate Arts Company CIC is a not-for-profit organisation (company registration No 06182774). The company is managed and directed by our full-time Artistic Director and founder, Jo Dyer.
Jo works alongside a team of talented team of over 30 artists, performers and creative practitioners with specialisms in all areas of the arts. You can read more about our artist team here.
The organisation is overseen by a voluntary board of directors, who also champion and steer the development of the Company throughout the year.
Our Artistic Director
Our Artistic Director Jo Dyer originally trained as a theatre designer. Early in her career she realised that she was less interested in creating work on a stage for a seated audience, and more inspired by working with communities to explore how to break-down the barriers between artist and audience. Her work became participatory, inviting the audience to experience creativity first-hand though sensory and playful projects.
Jo founded Animate Arts in 2002 to continue to create high-quality projects that bring creative experiences to young people, schools, families, collaborators and audiences.
In 2016 Jo was recognised by Kent Creative Awards for having a particular impact on communities and for her outstanding work in art.
Our cardboard champions
We are grateful to several companies that support our work. They support us in many ways, including providing and sourcing cardboard for our extraordinary builds in schools and communities.
Our Cardboard Champions are:
LEIPA
Innovative and environmentally-considerate paper and packaging solutions based on 100 % recycled fibres.
Noel Tatt
Impress Publishing, specialising in greeting cards
Cook Food
Award-winning frozen meals and puddings
Our School Champions
We love working with all our schools, but over recent years we have developed special working relationships with three primary schools. From inviting our artists into their schools, to inspiring us with their ethos towards creativity - they have gone above and beyond to champion creativity in their school settings and support the work of Animate Arts.
A huge ‘thank you’ to our three Champion Schools, 2025-27!
Senacre Woods Primary School, Maidstone
St Alphege CE Infant School, Whitstable
Westlands Primary School, Sittingbourne
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