Culture Forum Meeting 08/06/2020

A great session, fizzing with ideas and connections.

There are a number of initiatives supporting young people’s creativity in the city, but reach and knowledge of them can be patchy, so this Culture Forum opened with 5 speakers taking 5 minutes each to focus on a particular aspect of their programmes*, the opportunities and challenges.

*Other programmes are also available. Additional links, resources and contact details are at the end of this blog.

Stephanie Peachy, NNF Bridge:

The Bridge supports Children and Young People to access arts activities. They normally working directly with schools and other young-people focused organisations, including in, Cultural Education Partnerships, such as PHACE CiC in Peterborough.

Survival mode became the first mode of operation for partners, and a concern that as soon as organisations and venues closed everything went online, but no everyone can access this. They created a resource with links to go out in learning packs with schools. This has developed into a less digital, more analogue printed resource, which has had targeted distribution through new partners such as food banks and PCVS, as well as schools. The Challenge Bank from 64 Million Artists providing much of the initial material.

A new pack is being developed for the summer holidays, which they want to distribute even wider. This pack will require minimal resources which you can find in the home, do as a family or on their own. These are being created by 25 artists creating new challenges.

New partnerships needed to be created, supported by the PHACE Hub Manager, to start creating this. But more are wanted to reach more families, especially for those in digital poverty. As are offerings for older young people, i.e 14+.

2. Prin & Carl, Youth Inspired:

Funded youth project based in Peterborough which is structured around challenges for the participants (aged 11-20) and a youth commissioning panel. With youth centres closed they moved into online Zoom sessions, contacting the young people they knew through their youth clubs and other grassroots work over the past few years. They have also worked with partners like Little Miracles and the Westwood project.

Working with local artists they ran a 4 week arts programme, which they are currently evaluating, ahead of launching a new cycle later this month. Activity ranged from street art, photography, collage, body positivity and mental health session, with future sessions including beat boxing, a debate club, about education at this time, and working in partnership with NSPCC on supporting the mental health of vulnerable young people.

They are exploring how to deliver over the holiday when it is unlikely they will be able to do the programme of events and activities over the past few years. Arts and culture has gone well so far so will be incorporated into what is offered over the summer.

Digital poverty is an issue for the cohort they want to work with, so have supported a number to get devices, which will also support their access to school work.

Carl talked about the challenges of getting young people to engage with the social action aspect of the programme now they are all at home. Interventions have include distributing plants, sunflowers and vegetables to grow at home, materials to create cards for care homes, and a new partnership with local upcycling and gardening organisation Up The Garden Bath.

The project’s work has been so successful that it has been getting national recognition and acknowledgement as a great, swift example of good practise, including it’s safeguarding policy. The programme is mainly open access but they have a stringent safeguarding policy, including getting parent approval.

There is an ongoing issue about reaching the full diversity of Peterborough’s young population, which is another one of those structural gaps which has always existed, despite efforts by the likes of Carl and Prin, in the city’s programme, but lockdown has intensified. With Black Lives Matters being foregrounded it is more important than ever to address this. How can this be done better locally? Messaging, structures – how can we support this to go deeper.

The YI programme has a wealth of rigorous evaluation processes and data, with young people and practitioners, that could be used to inform other policies in the city, including the new cultural strategy.

4. Sarah Haythornthwaite, Metal Peterborough:

Rivers of the World Project with Nene Park Trust and Thames Rover Festival creating new art works with local artists, has gone online. The schools are all working in very different ways and many are frustrated by young people’s lack of engagement. There will be a public competition for submissions to be part of the final, outdoor exhibition in Peterborough and London / Essex. Delivery of the project is being made digitally and also analogue, sending out materials, but there feel there must be more channels to communicate and distribute.

Also a programme for emerging artists in their first 4 years of practice, which could also address new and mid-degree students who are deferring due to their courses going online. This is partnership with CCG Skills, who have also highlighted that there is expected an increase in youth unemployment and a drop off in the availability in apprenticeships. Metal are looking at how to sustain the young people’s practise, including keeping them connected to the local infrastructure.

They are running a survey HERE for Early Career Artists (i.e. in their first 4 years practise) to help create support system for this cohort, which will also address issues and needs of all artists.

This is more dialogue that can feed into the city’s new Cultural Strategy.

So again, what is needed is more communication through to young people, via leaders, stakeholders and gatekeepers, to build connections to these opportunities.

And now working at the rockface:

4. Kaine Kulzack, Korp:

Got ahead of curve in shutting down his studio and moving his workshops on-line, and created a membership site, and can help others do the same. He has also fine-tuned the set-up of teaching on-line using multiple cameras and anything else that came to hand, keeping costs low, and is able to share knowledge how to do this. He has now had ACE funding to upgrade his kit.

Within 6-8 weeks he has built up a sustainable business – 50% of participants were previous participants (drop off came from people whom this on-line set-up doesn’t suit.) He is now reaching people he would never have reached before, including abroad. Participants only need a pencil, a Sharpie and paper,

Challenge is to reach the full potential of delivering online, could accommodate a lot more. He would also like to offer some subsidised places, especially one-to-one, but hasn’t explored funding for that sort of work before.

5. Sam Roddan, Art Pop-Up:

Early in lockdown got funding for a journaling project, focusing on those who might not have access to technology (elders and families). Distributed 10-15 pages through Morrisons. Collecting work back in, possibly to exhibit in windows across Stamford.

The need to have a purpose has been a theme that has emerged in connection to mental health, and they will continue to address as they work with Mindscape after lockdown. They are also about to work with foodbanks, sending packs of resources from pencils to scissors. Got small pots of funding from various charities to do this.

Been running some free workshops with young people to assess what people have been missing. As well as purpose it is interactivity that they want, and this is a value that needs to explore further

NOTES:

Other ways funding classes / places on classes:

Pay It Forward / Membership models / Sponsorship

Safeguarding is fundamental:

- Open sessions including new participants (as well as existing core groups) can happen, but safeguards have to be put in place, with trusted and skilled leaders to hold the space.