Tag: Time to Shine

Youth arts and creativity to be celebrated in virtual festival

UNCON 3.0 is the third iteration of a biannual festival, designed for and by young people, celebrating the best in youth arts and creativity in Scotland.

The coronavirus pandemic has had an enormous impact on every aspect of children and young people’s lives, including on art provision, and their opportunities to participate and progress within the arts, screen and creative industries.

During the virtual UNCON on Friday 29 and Saturday 30 January 2021, partners from across the youth arts sector will share reflections on the challenges of the past year and consider how children’s voices and aspirations can be heard in the recovery process.

The partner organisations are: Media Education, Intercultural Youth Scotland,  Collective, Arts End of Somewhere/PAMIS, Glasgow Connected Arts Network, Starcatchers, Fèis Rois/Highland Youth Arts Hub and CELCIS. 

The programme will feature a mix of pre-filmed and live performances, presentations and panel discussions, artwork and manifestos created by children and young people.

Children, young people, policy makers and anyone with an interest in children and young people’s rights are invited to join the conversation. The programme includes live events which are free to access. Full details of the programme and information about how to register is available on the Creative Scotland website. 

Fiona Dalgetty, Fèis Rois said: “Young people from Fèis Rois and the Highland Youth Arts Hub have taken part in every UNCON to date, and we are excited to participate online this year.

“Overcoming the challenging move to a digital event, the team at Creative Scotland have put together an ambitious programme and we are excited for the audience to see the video our young people have created.”

Katie Brennan, Collective said: “For this year’s UNCON, we’ve been working in partnership with Edinburgh Young Carers on a postal project, asking young people to reflect on their experiences of lockdown and hopes for the future through mail art.

“We look forward to UNCON as a space in which the hopes, concerns and priorities of young people from all backgrounds will be heard by organisations and policy makers.”

Paul Sullivan of CELCIS said “We know the importance of creativity in helping children and young people to develop new skills, express themselves and have fun. COVID-19 has had an enormous impact on every aspect of children and young people’s lives, including their opportunities to access creativity.

“Our hope for UNCON is that through showcasing the creative skills of a number of talented care experienced young people and projects, we can further highlight the need for creative opportunities to be protected for children and young people all across Scotland.”

Sarah Mcadam, Time to Shine Manager, Creative Scotland said: “As with so many things, the lead in to this UNCON has felt very different to previous years. We know that the coronavirus will continue to have a significant impact on children and young people’s futures and it’s more important than ever to make sure we are listening to what is important to their lives.

“As this UNCON takes place at the beginning of a new decade, we look forward to working with a youth arts sector that meets these challenges head-on and continues to support Scotland’s children and young people to thrive in and through the arts and creativity.”

UNCON 3.0 is an outcome of Time to Shine – Scotland’s National Youth Arts Strategy. 

Time to Shine? Arts the way to do it!

Culture Secretary visits Youth Arts Hub

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Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop toured Edinburgh’s Youth Arts Hub yesterday and met young people whose lives have been changed by the Government-funded scheme.

The Edinburgh Youth Arts Hub, called #artcore, received £289,087 of funding from Creative Scotland as part of Time to Shine, Scotland’s Youth Arts Strategy, and is one of nine youth arts hubs across Scotland designed to give young people from all backgrounds a chance to take part in the arts.

The hubs act as focal points for regional youth arts delivery, helping to nurture and celebrate ambition, enthusiasm and talent in Scotland’s young people by improving the regional infrastructure. Young people are given the chance to be involved in running of the hubs themselves.

Ms Hyslop visited the hub, based at the Out of the Blue Drill Hall in Dalmeny Street, and met apprentices working at #artcore as well as members of Youth Arts Voice Scotland, a national advisory group of young people aged 12 to 25 who ensure Time to Shine is informed by the views and needs of young people.

Ms Hyslop said: “It was great to meet some of the young people who have had a chance to participate in arts and culture thanks to Time to Shine, Scotland’s Youth Arts Strategy, and #artcore, and hear about the difference the hub is making to their lives.

“#artcore received £289,087 of funding from Creative Scotland to help it open up access to arts and creativity for children and young people in Edinburgh. We understand arts and creativity can have a huge positive impact in people’s lives, and Scotland’s nine Youth Arts Hubs aim to give young people all over the country the chance to take part.

“Culture, the arts and creativity play an important role in tackling inequality, and Time to Shine builds on the well-established links between culture, education, youth employment and personal development.

“It is not only about providing enhanced access opportunities for all of Scotland’s young people but it goes further to support meaningful career pathways for our talent of the future; be it on stage, the screen, behind the scenes or in our world-leading creative industries.

“Perhaps most importantly of all, our aim is that this engagement with culture will nurture personal qualities that will help our young people to grow confidently as citizens and towards realising their ambitions, wherever they lie in the arts or elsewhere.”

#artcore project manager Johnny Gailey said: “It’s great to have both the Cabinet Secretary, and young people from Youth Arts Voice Scotland, to visit to see how #artcore has progressed, since we got our Time to Shine funding to set up a youth arts hub in Edinburgh a year ago.

“In the past year, we have employed a team of four young apprentices to run our programme of multi-arts activity – we’ve worked with over 500 young people in a series of pilot projects involving gaming, animation, radio plays, circus skills, music, creative writing and self publishing. And we’re now at the exciting point of announcing our expanded autumn arts programme at sites throughout the city, as well as launching our new print social enterprise, Out of the Blueprint.”

Joan Parr, Creative Scotland’s Head of Creative Learning said:

“Placing young people at the centre of the strategy’s aims and ambitions is a core principle of Time To Shine and we are delighted by the extent to which the Time To Shine implementation programme has so far taken its lead from young people.

“#Artcore Edinburgh is very much a youth led Arts Hub and therefore provides the ideal setting for our national Youth Arts Voice Scotland group to reflect with the Cabinet Secretary on what’s been achieved through Time To Shine to date, and what can still be achieved in supporting Scotland’s young people to flourish and achieve in and through the arts and creativity.”

Blair Boyle, YAVS Member, said: “As YAVS we are delighted to be presenting the progress of Time To Shine to the Cabinet Secretary. We are playing a key role alongside Creative Scotland and Young Scot in the development of the strategy implementation programme and we think it’s vital that young people continue to have a strong voice at this level influencing policy and decision making.

“We are proud that Scotland has such a powerful arts strategy for young people and are excited to be at #artcore today to be able to share with the Cabinet Secretary the breadth and depth of the work that is now happenening across the country.”

Chief Executive of Young Scot Louise Macdonald said: “We are really lucky that there is such a wealth of creative talent right here in Scotland and that there are young people who are so passionate about championing it.

“The young people involved in Youth Arts Voice Scotland are nothing short of inspirational in their drive and ambition to make the arts more accessible to young people right across Scotland. Their hard work and enthusiasm is encouraging young people right across the country get involved in arts programmes, securing our future as a creative nation.

“I am proud that we, in partnership with Creative Scotland, have been able to bring these young people together, so they can meet, discuss and ultimately grow their passion together with other likeminded young people.”