Element ran creative arts projects with young people across London. Our work had three key strands:
Projects with Care Experienced Young People
‘Care experienced’ is a broad term, incorporating young people who have been in foster care or residential care, those housed in homeless hostels, unaccompanied asylum seekers, and more. Our projects with care-experienced young people were commissioned by local authorities and third-sector organisations.
For each project, we worked closely with our partners to gather referrals and conduct outreach. Where possible we would meet young people before the project started, so that young people could hear more about the project, and tell us more about their creative goals and interests. Projects consisted of a series of 14 creative sessions that used different artistic disciplines to explore themes including personal strengths, future aspirations, culture and roots, issues young people were passionate about, and other positive, identity-forming topics. By using a range of art forms, projects encouraged young people to experiment - having fun on the creative journey, rather than focussing on producing something perfect.
As Element developed we became more youth-led, with projects being co-designed with young people at the beginning of projects based on who they were and what they wanted to explore. At the end of a project, young people shared their work at showcases at local arts venues, attended by friends, family, support workers and creative professionals.
Projects in Schools
Our school projects were delivered in partnership with AllChild as termly after-school projects, originally with young people aged 11 - 14, and latterly also with primary school students. The link worker at the school would identify a group of 8 young people who were facing challenges at school. This might be due to various factors including poor mental health, low self-esteem, low attendance or attainment, or being at risk of exclusion.
Each session had a theme that encouraged positive self-reflection, and an art form that could be used to explore it. Sessions included using collage to explore personal strengths, revealing personalities through painted self-portraits, and using spoken word poetry to show what issues each participant cared about. At the end of a project, students would hold a small showcase for teachers, parents and carers.
Creative Communities
Before we ran a single session under Element, we knew that we wanted our offer to be more than just engaging in one project. We had seen from our previous work and research the importance of long-standing relationships and support for young people, and so we knew we wanted an ongoing creative offer for those who completed a project with us.
In the beginning, this ongoing offer looked like hosting young people at our office, for weekly creative drop-in sessions, where attendees could shape the sessions with their own interests and creative development ideas. Soon, we started securing free tickets for alumni groups, to go to shows at theatres, galleries, and event spaces. Experiencing cultural shows together, we were able to discuss plays, poetry nights, and exhibitions, and bring ideas and inspiration back into the drop-in sessions.
As we developed the charity, we began to formalise this offer to alumni: we launched "Creative Communities", and developed multiple strands for Element Young Creatives to engage with. We continued with our drop-ins and cultural trips; we also looked for wider opportunities for Young Creatives within the cultural sector, supporting individuals into other creative projects and training opportunities with our cultural partners.
We offered paid work experience placements within the Element team, and training and freelance employment for Element Young Creatives to co-facilitate new projects alongside Element team members. Creative Communities was young person-led - it was theirs and Element staff facilitated their interests and ideas. These were spaces that gave them agency to be safe and explore. We worked alongside Element Youth Consultants, who supported our thinking in development and expansion of services, as well as in content design and new monitoring, evaluation and impact systems.
