Part of our Believe in Better® approach to business focuses on people. Having been a part of our community for over 150 years, we wanted to give back and support community initiatives. Our latest Chromatic Cadence Collection is proud to support the genU Arts Programme, donating $1 per square metre sold on a bi-annual basis.
Originally founded in Geelong as a play-centre for children with disability in 1952, genU services and support have greatly expanded over their 70+ year history. Today, they are a team of 3600 employees and volunteers in 169 locations across Australia. They are also profit-for-purpose and committed to reinvesting surpluses into services to promote inclusion in the community. Through their Arts Programme, genU offers day programs across five locations, James Street Gallery studio and further diverse community art programs.
Our partnership with genU started in 2023, through the launch of our Social Canvas Collection. “We wanted to give back to the local community in a meaningful way. The genU Arts Programme had such strong roots in Geelong and what they had created for artists with disabilities was really inspiring,” says Joel Williamson, National Sales Manager.
“Artists within the programme create artwork of their own making, meaning the studio is artist led; it certainly allows for a level of expression that is not available to these artists usually in a verbal way. The programme that we offer here allows clients to have access to an income, which isn’t available to many artists, let alone in disability,” explains Teresa Lawrence, James Street Gallery Coordinator.
One of genU’s Arts Programmes is run at James Street Gallery. Through our Social Canvas collection, we made an annual donation that allowed the gallery to commission a soundscape element to RISE, an exhibition held at Geelong Gallery.
We are thrilled to continue to build on this partnership, extending our support on an ongoing basis to the genU Arts Programme through our Chromatic Cadence Collection. Inspired by artist and veteran Yvette, who spent more than 20 years in the US army, we are proud to play a small part in supporting genU, and their mission of building inclusive communities and opportunities for artists with disabilities. “This partnership with GH Commercial is going to be really exciting, it will mean we could possibly expand the projects that we do. We like to give back as much as we gain from the community, which is an empowering thing for our clients,” adds Lawrence.
