Creative YOUCreativity is everywhere. Opportunity is not. We are part of the solution. The secret is in our name. Every year Creative Youth Network gives thousands of young people a taste and thirst for the arts and culture and the joy, life-skills and opportunity they bring. But we want more. Creative YOU is our campaign showcasing how we, you and the engaged, emerging and amazing young creatives we support, come together. We want to reveal how, together, we are ambition, quality, cultural democracy and social mobility in action. Every young person deserves the right to access creativity and development opportunities in the creative and cultural industries. It all starts with education. If all young people have access to creative subjects in school, then talented young people from all backgrounds can pursue their passion, develop crucial skills needed in so many industries and improve their wellbeing. 1. Pledge Add your name and join the many people passionate about bringing creativity back into our schools. With all the pledges we’ll be reaching out to headteachers in Bristol and the South West. We hope this will encourage local academies to give more space to creativity in their curriculum. Bristol, being the creative city we know and love, can pave the way for other regions to do the same, showcasing the true value of creativity. PLEDGE 2. Sign up Join us by signing up to our newsletter where we share best practice of how to support young people. sign up 3. Find out more Join us by reading and sharing our CreativeYOU report which shows how our work brings opportunities for creative expression and enables young people to explore their talent, regardless of background or circumstance. Download our Creative YOU report About us Blog What affects resilience in young people in Bristol? A ground-breaking research project looking at the issue of youth resilience has been published today. Targeted Youth Workers and young people they support were interviewed by undergraduate student researchers from The University of Bristol in order to answer the question: What affects youth resilience? The resulting report, entitled Research study into Resilience in Young People, found that: Youth resilience is a complex social characteristic that is dependent on a multitude of factors associated with an individual, their relationships, social networks and various contextual realities. Youth resilience is not an inherent character trait; rather the product of the external support systems surrounding the individual and their interaction with these. It is challenging, if not impossible, to make a single or overall judgement on what affects the resilience of a young person, not least as the balance between risk and protective factors is highly contextual; what can be a protective factor for one person can be a risk factor for another. Youth resilience is a term that should be used with care. This research is an innovative approached co-designed by The University of Bristol, Bristol City Council and Creative Youth Network that was largely carried out by undergraduates as research assistants supervised by University academics. READ THE REPORT Kate Gough, Head of Youth Services at Creative Youth Network, said: It’s been great to work with University of Bristol and Bristol City Council in this extensive research project. As youth work practitioners, to be able to evidence the impact of our work is crucial. We’ve been able to show through this research that youth work is first and foremost a crucial resource for young people to draw on against adversity. In addition, it is also a catalyst which enables young people to build further resilience from other resources within their environments. The research has been led by Dr Jo Staines and Dr Jack Nicholls from the School for Policy Studies in collaboration with Bristol City Council and Creative Youth Network to look at what research might be able to add to current understanding of youth services and commissioning decisions. The student researchers were all students in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law (SSL) and their involvement was co-ordinated by the Faculty’s Professional Liaison Network (PLN), which provides additional career opportunities for students outside of their degree courses. Overseen by Dr Nicholls and Dr Staines, the students assisted with scoping the project, conducted interviews with young people and helped in compiling the report. Research was also carried out into organisational resilience and identified factors that help contribute to stability within these organisations. Dr Nicholls said: These two innovative studies of youth resilience and organisational resilience have set the standard for civic university research projects with external organisations from across the city. The research collaboration generated benefits for each partner organisation and, not least, the students who worked as Research Assistants who gained valuable research experience beyond their academic studies. Student researcher Florrie Cole, BSc Sociology said: Working on this project was an amazing experience and far exceeded my expectations. The experience helped shape my career decisions and made me more determined to work in a role in which can make a difference to people's lives and help address inequalities. It was also fantastic to work on a project that would help give young people a voice. Find out more about our one to one service for young people Young people should have the support to develop their resilience. 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