Rocket Artists are an inclusive group of visual and performance artists who challenge barriers around art, diversity, learning and communication. They offer artistic and professional development opportunities for artists with and without disabilities.

Their supported studios in central Brighton provide people with learning disabilities the opportunity to develop and learn new skills, be ambitious and creative with their own ideas, exhibit and sell their artwork.

Since forming in 2002, the non-profit organisation has been commissioned by the British Council, Tate Modern and National Gallery to deliver inclusive arts exhibitions, conferences and staff training. Their work, which celebrates diverse identities and art practices, spans the arts, education, NGOs and health sectors both locally and internationally.

Rocket Artists worked with us on our third cookbook, Secret Dishes From Around the World 3. They commissioned the fantastic artist Richard Morris to create a digital artwork for the project.

Whitehawk Foodbank is an organisation seeded by the Trussell Trust that provides invaluable services to the local community. They help individuals and families in crisis, through the provision of emergency food supplies.

We worked with Whitehawk during our 2021 Reverse Advent Calendar Campaign.  The project encouraged people to donate a specific item to their local food bank  every day leading up to Christmas. We created a resource hub on our website with information about food banks across the country and promoted our free donation tracker to help people support their local food bank.

The Brighton & Hove Food Partnership is another social enterprise tackling food insecurity in Brighton. The Food Partnership was established in 2003 with the aim of making food more affordable and reducing food waste. Since then, the partnership has organised a surplus food network, which enabled the redistribution of 1,309 tonnes of food in 2021, as well as community composting schemes and community fridges at Phoenix Community Centre, the Old Boat Community Centre and Weald Allotments, where surplus food is made available to all. The partnership opened its Community Kitchen in 2018, offering cookery courses with a particular focus on those with learning disabilities and mental health issues, and runs over 70 community gardens across the city where volunteers can make friends and spend time outdoors.

We also admire the work of Brighton Women’s Centre, which has helped women across Sussex to recover from and overcome bereavement, homelessness, abuse and discrimination for over 45 years. The Centre runs a support and information phone line as well as an Accommodation Support Service for women who are either homeless or insecurely housed, involving one-on-one meetings between client and case worker and the maintenance of safe women-only spaces. The Centre is committed to destigmatizing mental health, offering a 12 week therapy program with qualified experts in talking therapy and movement psychotherapy and fees arranged in accordance with household income. The Centre’s peer to peer support service encourages a sense of community amongst marginalised women, and the Centre’s well-being classes offer insights into a range of hobbies and careers.

Our Community Cookery School team visited Brighton as part of the Secret Dishes From Around the World book tour in 2021. Whilst we were there, we spoke to Jo Offer, coordinating director of Rocket Artists Brighton. We then spoke to artist Richard Morris, who was commissioned by Rocket Artists Studios to create the artwork for the South Korean section of the cookbook. You can listen to both interviews on our Share Your Secrets podcast which is available for free via Spotify, Google and Apple!