The Aims and Objectives of the Catalyst Arts Centre can be divided into 4 main parts, these are:

• Artistic Aims
• Community Aims
• Spiritual Aims
• Business Aims

Artistic Aims

• To create a centre encompassing a community of both professional and amateur creatives.
• To create an active context for the exploration of creative expression across age ranges, cultural differences and educational abilities.
• To create a working environment where traditional and experimental work can be explored and carried out with professional guidance and critical assessment.

To this end, the Centre has a commitment to education and teaching:

• This proceeds from a convinced belief that excellence in the Arts is formed out of an understanding of the context in which any art form is made.
• Further, that knowledge gained through experience and the artistic work of the past, and passed on through positive and perceptive teaching, makes for positive and perceptive works of art.
• The aim in all art forms is the development of an inner awareness of possibilities and an outward expression attaining to excellence.

Community Aims

• To take the Arts into the community through outreach into local venues and locations, and to work with schools and organisations, providing professional help at the point of need.
• To create a youth focus by working alongside existing agencies to encourage, stimulate and train children and young people in a variety of creative Arts disciplines with both vocational and non-vocational objectives.
• To provide access to the Arts for people who are not always eligible for such education, including those who are unemployed, unqualified, elderly or disabled, or students looking towards a future career in the Arts.
• To enable those with special needs to develop creative abilities to a high level.
• To dismantle the barriers between types, ages and abilities, keeping the resources of the Centre open to a cross-section of the community.
• To provide enablement for those who, for one reason or another, have missed out in the educational system but who possess unrealised and undeveloped artistic potential.

Spiritual Aims

• To further the exploration of the relationship between creativity and faith through practical work, debate and discussion.
• To create an environment and develop an approach to the teaching and exploration of creativity that grows from a biblical world-view.
• This will be reflected in the Centre’s organisation, its relationships with users and tutors, as well as in its presentation and promotion to the general public.
• To provide an Arts-focused programme that, in its content and pastoral care, emphasises the whole person.
• To critique the role of the Arts in society and to look for new approaches across the disciplines. To celebrate, explore and debate the creative relationship we have with our world.
• To work for a renaissance in the churches in understanding the relevance and importance of the Arts in spiritual life, including worship, communication of the gospel and an imaginative exploration of the Bible.
• The work of the Catalyst Arts Centre will give its users the context and the opportunity to explore the dimensions of the Christian faith, both personal and corporate.
• To build the above from a strong spiritual base, rooted in prayer and Scripture, and with the support of the Church community.

Business Aims

• A Board of Directors will be established, the voting majority of whom will be actively engaged in the work of the Centre, and all of whom will be committed to the promotion of its philosophical values and aims.
• The Board will be responsible for all aspects of the proper running of the Centre and its activities, including the appointment of staff and the control of finances.
• Any combination of company and charitable status to encourage donations must fully respect the above.  The Board members will normally also be Trustees of the charity, or, if a third party charity is utilised, the Board members will be represented as Trustees of that charity in sufficient numbers to safeguard the interests of the Centre and its activities.
• Any third party charity utilised will need to be fully compatible with the aims of the Centre, as well as providing the necessary scope for operations.
• To raise capital by grant, donation and loan for the acquisition of suitable premises.
• To use the Centre’s resources in such a way as to maximise the premises’ earning potential within the philosophical aims of the Centre.
• Where appropriate, to work in partnership with other local and regional Arts groups such as the Towner Art Gallery, Community Arts, and Eastbourne Cultural Festival.
• To employ a Centre Manager on a full-time or part-time basis.
• To explore fully the possibility of funding from a variety of sources for establishing and maintaining a growing range of courses, workshops and activities.
• To seek help, advice and support in applying for government and trust grants, enabling the best possible professional presentation in keeping with a charitable status.
• To set up a Friends of the Catalyst Arts Centre, and a non-executive Council of Reference.
• To promote the Centre’s activities as widely as possible and keep a high profile before the general and Christian public.