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Over the past 14 years, our collective has been a force for good, 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 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 – above 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 discussion. Opus projects connect us to each other and to the culture, campaigns and conversations that make change. Now is the time.

The pandemic 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 online magazine Now Then, which reaches 10,000 people (and counting) 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 Festival of Debate, which brings people together to find common ground and solutions to the challenges we all face.

We create and work on projects which engage with systemic problems. At any one time we’re working on about 20 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 and we have an unprecedented opportunity to improve each other’s lives. We must seize it.

• £10 pays for a month’s worth of coffee for the Opus office.
• £40 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 a Festival of Debate event to be delivered, 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 150,000 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 outcome is creating platforms for independent information and communication which amplify voices within the local economy, voluntary, community and campaign sectors.

We run an online magazine called Now Then (10,000 monthly readers), and our print distribution service reaches more than 1,000 places in South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire.

The second outcome is supporting active citizenship and community participation.

Each year the Festival of Debate reaches 15,000 to 20,000 people through over 50 events delivered in collaboration 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 organisations, like South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority.
• Hold trustee and board positions with Voluntary Action Sheffield, Citizen Network, and the Independent Media Association.

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.