At the start of 2024 we wanted to look back on our achievements and learning from 2023 and say a huge thanks to all our clients, collaborators, staff and freelancers.

2023 was about understanding what we have to offer as an agency and social enterprise, securing funding for key social and environmental projects and building our commercial client base to enable us to have a greater impact in Margate and on the issues we work on. This year will be about continuing that journey and delivering on some ambitious projects.

Top 5 achievements of 2023

1. Launching The Writers' Room at Marine Studios in partnership with HKD and Kent Poetry CIC with support from Arts Council England. See more on the Writers' Room.
2. Forming our Plastic Free Thanet steering group and running business forums to set the direction of Plastic Free Thanet for 2024. Get involved with Plastic Free Thanet.
3. Supporting Margate Bookie lit fest's volunteer efforts to run its largest festival yet, across six venues. See more at www.margatebookie.com.
4. Securing our ongoing contract with the Health Foundation for 2024 and bringing on new clients in Heart of the City and Brandpie. See who we work with.
5. Building our fantastic team of staff, freelancers and volunteers. Meet the team.

Top 5 things we learnt in 2023

1. Partnerships take honesty, energy and effort but the impact of good partnership working is phenomenal.
2. Listen to your stakeholders and be prepared to change tack to ensure your projects are meeting their needs for concrete action. 
3. People are the power behind every organisation. Support, value and reward your paid and volunteer teams because they'll be your greatest ambassadors.
4. Building your client base takes time. Be prepared to put the time in to understand potential clients and their needs and to wait for the timing for them to be right.
5. People realising their potential is incredibly motivating. Providing the space, formal and informal networks and support to enable this what gets us out of bed in the morning.

Five things we're looking forward to in 2024

1. Seeing how Marine Studios and the Writers' Room develops now that we have our new studio assistant, desk holders and programme of writing support in place.
2. Getting a 'cup bank' up and running for Thanet, working alongside local businesses as part of Plastic Free Thanet and in partnership with Rise Up Clean Up and other local inititatives.
3. How we can further develop the volunteer offer for Margate Bookie and put on another incredible festival in 2024.
4. Building our portfolio of work and bringing in new clients across our specialist areas of health and social care; work and wellbeing; creative and cultural; and climate and nature.
5. Drawing on the skills, knowledge, interests and passions of our team and collaborators at Marine Studios to meet our goal of collaborating across Thanet and beyond to increase creative opportunities for young people and diverse communities.

If you'd like to work with us, we'd love to hear from you. Please don't hesitate to drop us a line at [email protected]