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 A Creative Launch for our New Hub, The Courts In June we opened the doors of The Courts, a place for creatives to work, create, make and develop their networks. The Courts community of organisations and professionals offer the support, environment and programmes for young people to realise their potential and find careers within the cultural and creative industries, no matter what their background or circumstances. Find out how we celebrated the 3-day Launch Festival weekend.... Watch our short video by Holly Cooper, a young videographer for highlights. Running time: 1min 5 secs. The first official event: 'Unlock Your Future' Our current Event Management Course, a group of 12 young people with a keen interest and desire to work in the events industry, organised and successfully ran an engaging Networking event and career fair for other young creatives. During the event, there were talks from film-maker Michael Jenkins, gender educator and drag artist Roux, and Arnolfini's Engagement Producer Keiko Higashi. There was also a playful wall installation which allowed the audience to share their contact details if they were interested in creative collaboration and career stalls by Rising Arts Agency, Diverse Artists Network, Bristol School of Acting and Make Shift. Meet Eloise, one of the producers for this event and part of The Court's 'Youth Advisory Board' since the beginning... "Working on The Courts with Creative Youth Network has taught me many things about long form project work, and how much goes into just opening a building like this, let alone running it! I have learnt how to work as a cohesive team and produce events, which I am hoping I can take forward to a career in events and management. Similarly, through working with Creative Youth Network as a young person wanting to be in the creative industry, I have been given great opportunities to apply my skills which has lead me to getting my first big commission as an artist! This is something which will certainly help me in future applications and is a great addition to my portfolio." To read more about The Courts' 'Youth Advisory Board' click here The Courts Launch Festival! The Courts will be a community that welcomes partners, tenants, hirers and the public to share in both the heritage of the space and our vision for creating a more representative creative workforce for the future. Thank you to all those who came together to make our launch festival such a success, and all those who supported us including our main funder, the National Heritage lottery Fund. The space was buzzing with excitement: music from Dean Tamagno , Saffron's Merty and Babba Chunks booming through the renovated hallways, The Invisible Circus performers waltzing down the hallway blowing bubbles and teaching people to hula hoop! Young, talented dancers travelled from London, Swansea, Cardiff & Plymouth to compete with The Jam Movement for a cash prize. Tom Whitson's photography exhibition showed the enormous change of The Courts and DBS Pro's 'Voices of The Courts' was launched, a heritage tour audio experience allowing you to be guided through the building and hear the stories of the people who were trialled there through time. There was theatre shows, spoken word poetry and other musical expression, a cinema room of 27 young creatives' film work curated by Inaz Hussain - and artwork dotted all about the place... View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Courts (@thecourtsbristol) We are so grateful for everyone who came over the weekend to see The Courts open. It was an incredible experience for our team at Creative Youth Network and all our partners and contractors who worked so hard on the project to see the rooms buzzing with people and creativity. We hope you loved reading this blog post and if you'd like to read more about The Courts, click here. Manage Cookie Preferences How can we help?