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.
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.
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
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Alice talks about common misconceptions about eating disorders and shares how these myths affected her. Read more
Owen shares his mission as a LGBTQ+ wellbeing practitioner - to equip young people with proacting coping skills that are healthy and beneficial: self-compassion, circles of control and connection. Read more
Rebecca Ball talks about the holistic approach we need in order to bring back from the brink generation COVID. Read more
Our Creative Producer Emily Bull addresses how the arts and culture industries are key to the UK's economy, and also crucial in so many people's lives, contributing to their wellbeing and sense of purpose. Read more
This Pride month we're going back to basics: talking about what celebrating Pride means to us, how important it is to young people and how we need to go beyond just rainbow and ensure support is in place. Read more
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? Read more
Mixed media visual artist Miranda Collins talks about how she has been exploring social action with LGBT+ young people. Read more
Illustrator Emily Thomas worked with young people in South Bristol to explore how we can change attitudes towards neurodiversity. Read more
Qezz has been working with young carers on a visual series for our project A tonne of feathers. Here she explores the themes that have come up and how we used creativity for social action. Read more
Recent events, including the tragic death of Sarah Everard, have reminded us each of us need to contribute to reduce violence directed at women. Our youth work manager Carl Bowen talks about how we tackle toxic masculinity through developmental group work. Read more
We are extremely alarmed and disappointed to learn about the proposed government cuts of 50% for creative arts subjects at Higher Education level, due to these subjects ‘not being among its strategic priorities’ Read more
The South Gloucestershire Youth Partnership shares learning from the last five years protecting and improve youth services in the area. Read more
Kieran (17) has lived in Southmead, Bristol his whole life. He found school challenging and has been through difficult family times. He’s passionate about his community, and has strong views on how people are treated, stereotypes he’s faced, and struggles he sees every day. Read more
With increasing isolation, job coach Luke addresses how we are working in new ways to engage young people who have significant barriers towards being confident and sociable. Read more