Creative Arts East’s Youth Arts Consultation

Will you help us by completing a survey?

 

Whether you are a young person yourself, or a professional who works directly or indirectly with young people on arts programmes, your opinion matters, and we would love to hear from you.

Please take a look at the four survey options below and complete the one that best matches you:

Are you…

 

A professional who works (or whose organisation works) with young people?

Yes, I am a strategic head or in a decision-making position for an organisation  – Click here to complete the survey

Yes, I work directly with young people, facilitating programmes – Click here to complete the survey

or are you a young person?

Yes, I am under 16 – Click here to complete the survey for Under 16’s

Yes, I am aged 16-25 – Click here to complete the survey for 16-25 year olds

As part of our consultation and to support our research, we are carrying out surveys about creative pathways – particularly in music, available to young people in the eastern region. In order to do so, we need your voice! Especially during these difficult times, working together is so important, and so we would very much appreciate you taking the time to complete our survey, and sharing it with your networks.

Select the survey above which is right for you, and please complete it by the initial deadline of 16th December. If you are a young person completing the survey and leaving your email address, you will be automatically entered into a prize draw to win a year’s subscription to Skillshare, worth £80!

What is the consultation and why are we doing it?

Over the next ten months, here at Creative Arts East we will be carrying out a consultation (funded by National Charity Youth Music) to find out what creative pathways – particularly in music, are available to children and young people across the eastern region.

The project’s primary aim is to better understand the hyperlocal barriers and challenges that currently prevent young people in rural and often under-served communities from accessing high creative arts and cultural opportunities, with a specific focus on the activities and progression pathways that might support them go on to pursue leadership roles in future.

The consultation will result in a report which can inform local, regional, and national planning and delivery, alongside a range of supporting resources. It will also act as a roadmap for the next iteration of the ‘Create, Encourage, Promote’ Music Programme for Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire between 2021 – 2024.

If you follow us on Instagram, you may have seen our first ever digital takeover event – ‘Leading the Way’ – back in October, where we shared the findings of our initial youth arts leadership survey, showcased the work of some talented young creatives and their experiences of leadership, and invited responses and discussion around many topics to do with the various opportunities and challenges of leading in the arts that young people face today.

We were so thrilled with responses to this event – it reached so many new young people and gave us the opportunity to hear some really interesting feedback from young people and organisations, all of which has informed the next step in our consultation.

There are four surveys, so make sure you select the right one for you!

Please help us with our consultation by answering the questions with as much information as possible. We will be sharing the findings widely, and your responses will help to inform the consultation and will ultimately support the sharing of best practice in working with and for young people in the arts through the resource and CPD training we will be organising as a result of the findings. Please do share these links with anyone you know who is a young person, or who works with young people, across the eastern region, to help us to gather as full a picture as possible.

The first deadline for responses is 16th December.

We can’t wait to see your responses to our questions! Thank You!

If you are a young person who would like to be involved in this consultation by being a part of our Creative Arts East Young Creatives Advisory Group, where you’ll have the chance to network with other talented, dynamic young creatives in regular online mixers, have chances to promote your work, and speak with arts industry professionals, as well as having your voice heard through our consultation, get in touch with Julia at juliastafford@creativeartseast.co.uk

 

 

 

Leading The Way – Instagram Takeover

This is the first event like this that we’ve run at Creative Arts East, and we’re so excited to showcase some fantastic work from some of the UK’s best young creatives, encourage conversation around some of the barriers that young people face when it comes to arts opportunities, and give young people a platform to share their voice.

Where is this happening? Join us over on our Instagram page at @creativeartseast SATURDAY 3rd October, from 10am to 4pm, where we’ll be sharing content on our grid and stories throughout the day. You could even turn on notifications for our posts, so you don’t miss a thing!

What to Expect During the Day:

What is Youth Leadership?

Hear from us, other organisations, and our young creatives

What’s your personal experience of Young Arts Leadership?

Barriers, opportunities, collaboration, inspiration

What does the current landscape look like?

Results and infographics from our national survey

Young Creatives Showcase

Take a look at some of the UK’s current creative leaders and their work

SkillShare Prize Giveaway

Interact and engage with us, and you could win a year’s subscription!

Get involved by following us and the creatives we showcase, liking, commenting and responding to some of the questions we’ll pose, tagging your friends, and tagging us and using #BeingInTheArts to showcase your own work and thoughts on young arts leadership. Those that get involved will be entered into our free prize giveaway – you could win a year’s subscription to the creative training platform SkillShare subscription, worth £84!

Young Leaders Showcase:

We’ve had some wonderful submissions come in from young leaders, sharing their artwork and reflecting on their arts experiences. Take a look at their full profiles below and check out some video reflections that we’ve received HERE.

Click here to download a PDF featuring full profiles of all our young creatives!

Results from Our Survey to Under 25s

Over the summer, we sent out a national survey aimed at under 25s interested in the arts and making decisions about arts and culture. Here are some of the results that we have found out:

Extra Resources:

Opportunities for Funding: 

Arts Council England – www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding

ArtsWork – artswork.org.uk

Youth Music  – new.youthmusic.org.uk

Wellbeing and Welfare 

Mind – www.mind.org.uk

Samaritans – www.samaritans.org

Youth Advisory Board – Meet Olivia

At Creative Arts East we have been working on a project that is focused around young arts leadership, which will culminate with a vibrant online Instagram Takeover called ‘Leading The Way’. The day will showcase young artists and the work and experiences they have had being in the arts.

Olivia, who is a creative member of the advisory group for the project, has been working hard to guide us and the project, all from the perspective of an artistic young person. We took the chance to ask her a few questions about herself and her experiences…

Introduce yourself and tell us why you decided to get involved with the youth advisory board for Creative Arts East’s online project for young art leaders.

Hi, my name is Olivia Rodgers, I am 16 years old. I decided to get involved with the youth advisory board to build confidence in my art knowledge and planning because it is something I am really interested in and want to do in the future. It also sounded like such a fun, different and exciting opportunity.

Do you create any arts yourself? What media is it, can you describe it?

I do love to create art myself, it is mainly painting, expressive and bold style. I have branched out recently to try detailed portraiture and I am enjoying it very much. Its helped me become more confident in myself, and my work.

Who is your favourite artist? This could be a film director, musician, visual artist…whoever you find inspiring! And why?

I do not think I could pick a favourite artist! But I love when people break boundaries and rules. Start new trends or ideas. I think they are very interesting to research and look at their work, because it had never been done before. It stimulates your mind to think in new ways as well and become even more creative and different.

     

What is your favourite film/music and why?

I love music that is again experimental and true to the person who is creating it. It really shows their love for what they are creating and how passionate they are for their work or songs. I also love big instrumental music, it creates an atmosphere like no other, and really makes me appreciate what I’m listening to.

Do you get involved in decision making in an arts capacity at all? In what way?

Yes, I have done in the past. I completed my Silver Arts Award at a National Saturday Club at the Time and Tide Museum. This involved us putting on our own exhibition in the leadership section of the award. I worked in a team of 4, making many decisions in the end to pull off a week long exhibition in a local space, displaying many young people’s artwork and some of my own.

Why do you think it is important for younger people to be involved in decisions being made around the arts?

I think it is really important because I think young people’s voices are overheard in the professional world of art and maybe would be seen as not serious. But the arts are an all-inclusive place, so that means everyone should have an input and make decisions. It also makes it more enjoyable for young people when they are involved because it makes them want to stay, learn and grow as artists.

What are you most looking forward to with your future work in arts?

I want to make a living in the arts and for it to become a job for me, not just a hobby. I want it to take me places I’ve never been to and let me into new industries that I’ve never seen. And even meet people I’ve never met before. I would love to have a job in the arts that lets me travel and really immerse myself in culture and arts all over the world, just appreciating other ways of life and their art in their worlds.

If like Olivia, you’d like to get involved in our youth arts leadership project, email lea@creativeartseast.co.uk or DM us on Instagram @CreativeArtsEast

Become a leader and submit your work, along with your experiences now!

Send us your work to contribute to our Instagram event ‘Leading the Way’, all about being a young leader in the arts, taking place on Saturday 3rd October 2020. This event is for under 25s who have any interest in arts related activities and would like to share your own authentic experience and get your voice heard!

Click here to submit your work or click here to read our blog with full details about our Instagram Takeover!