Youth Forum

Through generous funding from The Arts Society Portsdown, In 2019 Making Space launched our first ever Youth Forum for creative 15-19 year olds. 

At a time when arts subjects are not being supported in school, Making Space was in a prime position to support young people in finding pathways into understanding and gaining access to the creative sector. We built on our successes and ensured the voice of young people was heard. It continues to help us shape how we work and continue to innovate going forwards.

The Making Space Youth Forum ran from February 2019 to November 2020 and engaged young people who felt ready to develop their leadership, research, creative planning and team work skills. We were able to accommodate up to 14 proactive and enthusiastic young people on the creative masterclasses and go & see trips, and had a core of 7 young people who saw the project through to the end working on their Arts Award. The group was a mix of newcomers and those who had already taken part in previous activities/projects with us.

The Youth Forum expanded participants knowledge and experience, enabling each young person to understand the broader arts world and consider their place within the sector, in terms of options for continued learning, enjoyment and fun!

The Details

• The Youth Forum met once a month for an 1.5hr session. In these sessions they worked on their arts award, planned projects and did simple creative activities.
• There was 2 ‘Go & See’ opportunities as part of the project. We went to go and see WarHorse in Oxford and also enjoyed a trip to London to see the V&A & Natural History Museum.
• The Youth Forum was co-ordinated by our Young Trustee; 19yr old Victoria Edwards and supported by Making Space Staff.
• There was 6 creative Masterclasses all decided on by the group including: Fused Glass, Ceramics & throwing, Jewellery, Screen Printing, Character Building & Stop-motion Animation
• The core group worked towards their  Bronze Arts Award which was sent off for moderation at the end of 2020.
• The Youth Forum also led a creative workshop for younger children at Emsworth Community Centre.
• The Forum group worked on a plan for a creative project that Making Space may look to deliver at a later date.
• The Youth Forum created opportunities for young people to share their work such as an end of project (socially distanced) exhibition which was open to the public, funders, forum members and family/friends.
• All sessions costed just £1.50 each meaning it was very accessible to a wide audience.

Here are a selection of photos from the project and the various  activities and trips enjoyed by the group.

Future Artists Workshop

As part of their project and their Arts Award the group also designed, marketed and led on a paid workshop at Emsworth Community Centre in Aug 2019. This workshop for younger people saw the group each share different creative skills that they felt confident in before the participants created a piece of artwork combining the new skills they had learnt. The artwork created was later displayed as part of an exhibition at the centre. Below are some images from the workshop.

The Final Celebration

As mentioned above, on the 15 November, we hosted a socially distanced exhibition and final celebration event viewable from outside Making Making Space… It was our chance to celebrate the achievements of the group, invite along funders, friends and family and thank the members for taking part… below are a few photos of the exhibition and event.

Thank you

We would like to take the opportunity to thank The Arts Society Portsdown for supporting this project and Making Space. Also to the young people involved thank you for your creativity and enthusiasm! We look forward to seeing your creativity grow in the furutre!