Accumulate, Creative Youth UK, and ArtSocial Foundation have made it their mission to improve the lives of the vulnerable through the arts.
London-based charity Creative Youth came to life in 2009 amidst the first-ever International Youth Arts Festival. Creative Youth offers ongoing training programs and events for young people and hosts an art festival every summer. Their purpose is to encourage and celebrate the creativity of young people aged 5 to 26. “Creative Youth enables young people’s potential through the arts. We equip and empower young people with the skills and confidence to both succeed in life and with their chosen careers,” said Louise Coles, the CEO of Creative Youth U.K., over email to Mission.
Recently, the charity recruited three unemployed young people via the U.K. government’s Kickstart scheme, which aims to deliver funding for employers offering new job roles for 16-24 years olds. Coles states: “One of them has gone on to study photography at university and said that, “working at Creative Youth has had a lasting impact on me, I learned so much about the industry and had the best experience.”
The charity offers different opportunities for young people. One is the Creative Talent Programme, through which the charity supports three young people a year, selected through an open application process. “This year, we are supporting London-based photographer Chiyana Ankhrah whose work aims to challenge Eurocentric beauty standards,” says Coles. The charity also runs a Skills Development Programme, which offers hands-on, practical skills-based work experience opportunities.
“We’re aiming to launch FUSE International in July 2022, followed by the new space from April 2023,” she continues. FUSE (formerly International Youth Arts Festival) will offer over 200 events and performances during ten days, including up to 6,000 participants and audiences. Up to 100 young volunteers also take part.
Accumulate —The Art School for the Homeless is a U.K-based charity that works exclusively with people affected by homelessness. “Getting involved in creative workshops, visiting exhibitions, and doing creative activities helps to improve their confidence and gives them something meaningful to do,” says CEO Marice Cumber over email to Mission.
Cumber was inspired to launch Accumulate after being unable to work for a year due to depression and wanting to reconnect with her local community. She helped set up a local Arts Festival in Crouch End when the North London YMCA hostel got in touch with her to work together. Accumulate is funded through donations, grant funding, and sales from their book: “The Book Of Homelessness,” and the artwork produced by participants.
The charity also fundraises for scholarships to enable participants to study creative education at university on a one-year course. It also runs creative workshops and courses, including writing, sculpting, photography, and fashion.
In a similar vein to Creative Youth U.K. and Accumulate, ArtSocial Foundation is changing and improving the lives of young people through creative programs in the U.K. and Russia. Mission talked to Liza Oliver, Charity Programmes Adviser of ArtSocial Foundation, over email. “ArtSocial Foundation provides mental health support and helps seriously ill children and young people using arts therapies,” she explains. After seeing the impact art has on the wellbeing of those in need, Alina Uspenskaya set up the ArtSocial Foundation in 2015. The charity partners offer drama, art, and music therapy services and host learning events in museums, hospitals, orphanages, and community centers.
In 2019, Art SocialFoundation collaborated with the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. “We supported a program for school groups of students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The free sessions for students were based around some of the most popular objects in V&A collections. Multi-sensory and interactive sessions encouraged exploration using a V&A resource box containing a wide range of hands-on objects,” says Oliver.
Looking ahead, ArtSocial Foundation hopes to “continue delivering vital work aimed at improving the lives of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children and young people through arts.”
Accumulate, Creative Youth UK, and ArtSocial Foundation work to profoundly change the lives of young people, particularly those affected by the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and government cuts.
Images courtesy of Art Social U.K.
