POW bids sad farewell after 10 years fighting for women

ARTS CHARITY FALLS VICTIM TO 'CHALLENGING FUNDING CLIMATE'

- By HEDI MEHREZ

ARTS organisation Power of Women Thanet (POW) has made the decision to close due to the "increasingly challenging funding climate".

The charity was launched in 2015 to actively promote gender equality through the arts, and led the way in the sector on fair pay for women and non-binary people, creatives and local suppliers while campaigning for the rights of women and girls in Thanet and beyond.

A spokesperson for the charity said: "Due to the increasingly challenging funding climate, continuing the charity's work has become unsustainable.

"We are going to take some time to figure out our next steps including how we can be of service to our community going forward.

"Our mission is unfinished, and there is still so much work to do, but we have been doing this with less and less funding.

"Less than 2 per cent of all charity funding goes to the women and girls sector, which has hit POW hard.

"Overall, our funding has been cut by 40 per cent in the last three years, and success rates for Trusts and Foundation applications have dropped to 0.5 per cent.