LADVAA (Lewes and District Visual Arts Association) seeks to provide a safe, respectful, inclusive, and supportive arts environment for all its members using the Paddock Studios and facilities and attending its classes.  If you have a complaint about any aspect of our activities and facilities, we encourage you to raise it, in the first instance, if appropriate, with your tutor, or otherwise, with the Chair at chairman@paddockartstudios.co.uk  or other member of the committee.  Complaints may be raised in confidence if needed.

Procedure for dealing with complaints

Tutors who receive a complaint should, without delay, notify the Chair, or, in their absence the Vice-Chair, of the details. The Chair/Vice-Chair will contact the complainant to acknowledge receipt of the complaint, explain the process that will be followed and when a decision will be made.

The Chair/Vice-Chair will inform the committee and, if needed, arrange for the complainant to be interviewed and establish a timetable for investigating and responding to the complainant.  The complainant will be kept up-to-date and notified if for any reason, this timetable changes. The committee will endeavour to listen to complainants, to understand the complaint and the outcome they are seeking.

If the complaint concerns a tutor, another member or agent, that person will be informed that a complaint has been made and will be interviewed by designated committee member/s and will have an opportunity to respond to the issues raised.  Complaints will be investigated thoroughly and fairly to establish the facts of the case, including reviewing all relevant evidence and might include any third parties involved.

The committee will attempt to ensure that complaints are investigated by someone independent of the events complained about.  If this is not possible, it will consider whether a third party outside of the organisation be asked to investigate the complaint.

The committee will endeavour to provide clear, evidence-based reasons for decisions and ensure those decisions are proportionate, appropriate, and fair.

The committee takes responsibility for the actions of those acting on behalf of the organisation.  When responding to a complaint, it will aim to acknowledge if things have gone wrong and take proportionate action to put things right, including apologising where appropriate. The decision of the committee will be final, although complainants who are not satisfied by the outcome may be signposted to adjudication bodies.

The committee understand complaints as a source of learning and improvement and will review them to consider what lessons can be learnt and how it can improve the service and the experience of Paddock members, models and users.

Confirmed by the Committee      01.08.2023