ENYAN has moved swiftly into action and launched a new national campaign ‘Youth Arts Transforms Lives- FACT!’ which supports the sector at this crucial time when changes to investment in the Voluntary and Community Sector are afoot and affecting projects at national, regional and local level.
Following two very successful national campaigns (Creative Consultation with Young People 2006/7 and Young Arts Leaders 2008/9) ENYAN is calling upon the youth arts sector to fight its corner and stand tall in the sound knowledge of its ability to transform lives.
The Campaign was launched with a hugely successful conference at the Royal & Derngate, Northampton on Tuesday 15th June 2010 and attracted over 100 delegates spanning the children and young people’s workforce (with targeted marketing towards those not already offering youth arts provision). At the conference, they outlined the purpose of this important campaign:
• Producing evidence to support key messages regarding the value of youth arts
• Increase knowledge, understanding and support for youth arts by politicians and government ministers
• Making a stronger case to funding bodies to allocate specific funds to youth arts and to provide evidence as to why this is relevant
• Demonstrating the value of youth arts to services supporting hard to reach young people
• Highlighting key national initiatives benefiting the youth arts sector and creating a framework for how they can be delivered at a regional level
A key outcome of this campaign is to equip sector professionals with the evidence to back up their claims and support the long-term sustainability of youth arts.
Being able to offer hard facts about the impact of artistic and cultural activity on young people in informal settings will help to demonstrate the impact of youth arts to investors and stakeholders.
Showcase your work by submitting your case study! ENYAN are seeking case studies that feature individuals or groups of young people that are/ were between the ages 12-25 when the youth arts project took place. It may well be that you have an interesting story and are now an adult or know an adult whose life was turned around as a result of a youth arts project years ago. As long as you can provide evidence that youth arts transforms lives- they would like to hear from you!
In total ENYAN are seeking a minimum of 13 case studies per region to cover the 13 focus topics of the campaign:
• arts a tool for engagement
• overall skill development
• emotional development
• social cohesion/ inclusion
• educational development in informal educational settings
• career development
• youth crime
• health benefits
• economic benefits
• aspiration and attainment
• access to the arts
• artistic excellence and innovation
• cross sectoral advantages
As well as being uploaded on the ENYAN web site (www.enyan.co.uk) , your case study may also be chosen to be included within an ENYAN Regional Online Campaign Resource which will be available as a download for you and your partners which can use as an advocacy tool and resource for the future. It will also be widely publicised throughout the youth arts sector across England in early 2011.