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Dear citizen,
Opus is a part of Sheffield’s long radical history.
Over the past 13 years, our collective has been a force for good both in South Yorkshire and across the UK. We create the tools that allow thousands of people to take action on poverty, marginalisation, climate breakdown and democratic reform.
Engaging with our events, festivals, articles, arts experiences and journalism is usually free. But since the start of the pandemic, we've been struggling. Now we need your help to continue our work and take it further.
Our organisation is equitable, diverse and fair. We're non-hierarchical, anti-racist and not-for-profit. We're member-led and worker-owned, and we pay each other the same wage – the real living wage.
Every day we work to change the world we all live in for the better through projects like Now Then, Festival of Debate and the UBI Lab Network.
‘Better’ to us means fair, diverse, accessible, citizen-led and independent. A better world is one where all voices are heard at every level of the debate. Opus projects connect us to each other and to the culture, campaigns and conversations that make change.
Now is the time.
The pandemic has created an opportunity to speed up the transition to a fairer, liberated and more loving society. But we can’t do this alone – we urgently need your support.
We need your support for our hyperlocal, citizen-led magazine Now Then, which reaches tens of thousands of people every month.
We need your support for our campaign for a Universal Basic Income, which would reduce inequality and end absolute poverty in the UK.
We need your support for the Festival of Debate, which brings people together to find common ground and solutions to the challenges we all face.
We need your help now – your support will make a difference.
We create and work on projects which engage with systemic problems. At any one time we’re working on about fifteen projects of different sizes, and we make a difference.
The problems we face are intrinsically linked. Opus works across spaces and connects silos of work, empowering the people who are building a new future both in Sheffield and around the world.
The time for putting sticking plasters on decades of injustice and elitism is over. We must address the problems we all face at their root. We believe that common sense for the common good is not rocket science.
We urgently need your support to sustain and to grow – to increase our impact and to make a difference. We are living in an historical moment of great importance – we have an unprecedented opportunity to improve each others lives. We must seize it.
£3.50 pays for an edition of our hyperlocal magazine Now Then to be printed.
£25 pays for an article to be written and published by a community correspondent.
£95 pays for a day's work campaigning for a Universal Basic Income that would end absolute poverty in the UK.
£200 pays for an event to be delivered at the Festival of Debate, bringing citizens together to find common ground.
Opus believes we can live in a world where everyone works to make things better for each other.
We work with a cross-section of independent, community and voluntary sector organisations. We directly reach over 250,000 people a year through live events, publishing and broadcasting in Sheffield and beyond.
Opus projects connect us to each other and to the music, arts, culture, ideas and actions that will make change. Our projects fall under four headings:
Community media
Active citizenship & participatory democracy
Independent trade & local economies
Transformative arts experiences
Through our projects we work to achieve two main outcomes.
The first is to create platforms for independent information and communication which amplify voices within the local economy, voluntary, community and campaign sectors.
We run a monthly free print magazine called Now Then (30,000 readers), which also has a website and app (20,000 readers). Our print distribution service reaches more than a thousand places in South Yorkshire and north Derbyshire.
The second is to support active citizenship and community participation.
Each year the Festival of Debate reaches 15,000 to 20,000 people with over 100 events delivered with dozens of community partners, and regular work which addresses social cohesion in our city.
We also:
incubate campaign groups which we believe have the potential to radically change the world we live in for the better, like the UBI Lab Network
undertake research projects in collaboration with other third sector organisations, like Cohesion Sheffield
hold trustee and board positions with Voluntary Action Sheffield, Cohesion Sheffield, Sheffield Climate Alliance and Healthwatch Sheffield
We are passionate about finding upstream solutions to social, political, economic and environmental problems.
We recognise that this is a long-term and systemic approach to social change.
That’s why we create platforms that champion social causes, independent businesses, not-for-profits, emerging talent, active citizenship and community participation.
Help us. Join us. Your Voice. Your Community. Your Opus.