About
The magnetic glue between schools and the arts
Exchange is a charity working across East Sussex. We connect schools, arts organisations and artist freelancers so that more children and young people get to make, see and take part in the arts.
The two sectors don’t always speak the same language. We translate: running networks, events and pilot projects that turn good intentions into working partnerships.
Established in 2013 as the Hastings & Rother Arts Education Network, Exchange seeks to help redress the balance of diminishing cultural resources in schools: using local resources for local schools and creating sustainable projects that embed culture into young people’s everyday lives.
“It was through dance lessons at school that a world of opportunity and freedom opened up for me. Experiencing and participating in the arts can genuinely change the direction of someone’s life and it is in our schools that these first encounters should take place.”
Who we are
Clair Rowe
Development Director
Rachel Karasik
Administrator
Trustee
Chair of trustees
Trustee
Treasurer
Clair Rowe: Development Director
Clair is an experienced community and voluntary sector leader with over 25 years’ experience supporting organisations, partnerships and networks to transition from volunteer led models to sustainable, structured operations. Her expertise in planning, infrastructure, leadership, fundraising and cross sector partnership development supports Exchange’s next phase of growth: a six month role funded with support from the Chalk Cliff Trust.
Rachel Karasik: Administrator
Rachel is a project manager, producer, facilitator and artist with an interdisciplinary background across social innovation, food, tech, systems change and the arts. Also a ceramics artist and educator who exhibits regularly in East Sussex and further afield, she is helping to build sustainable operational systems and grow external communications and activities across the network.
Charity information
Exchange has supported arts education in East Sussex since 2013, and is entering a new chapter with a renewed focus on its networks. Governance documents and meeting minutes are published here. As Darren Henley OBE puts it: “if we truly wish to use all our talent, offer opportunity for all, and increase social mobility, then access to arts and culture must remain high on the agenda, whether in school or outside school.”