It's never been easy for young people to make a professional breakthrough, but now in the wake of this recession, they’re facing a dearth of internships, placements and vacancies. It’s heartbreaking to see them locked out and advised to ‘retrain’ when our sector desperately needs their boldness, kindness and above all, their new ideas.
But the Arts Emergency Network—our volunteers, mentors, and donors—keeps me optimistic. They’ve stepped up time and again over lockdown to support our Young Talent; organising online work experience, sharing advice and continuing to mentor remotely. Literally building hope and opportunity from the ground up.
We’re now at a turning point with increasing demand for our services. We’re aiming to support 4,000 young people nationally by 2025. To do this we must grow our volunteer and donor base across the UK. Based on feedback on our old website and the offer of pro bono support from major creative agency FCB Inferno we knew it was the right time to refresh our brand and website. I hope you’ll agree that they do justice to our community. I know it will make such a difference to the opportunities and connections we can offer.
It was crucial for us that the young people we work with were at the heart of the new brand and that the site was truly built for our members. So at every stage of the design our user group of young people, our youth collective, as well as mentors and donors gave us invaluable feedback and guided our decisions.
On the website you’ll find:
- a platform to showcase our Young Talent’s stories and creative work
- a host of resources for volunteers
- guidance, interviews and advice for creative young people
- easier ways to donate and fundraise
As a grassroots charity, we have grown from a small collective in Hackney into a thriving network of thousands.
Change is not something that happens, it’s something we do.