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Arun Cultural Changemakers

The Young Cultural Changemakers Programme is a cultural development initiative for and by young people aged 25 and under in the District of Arun. The project builds on the work of the Arun Inspires Programme, which was supported by legacy funding from Inspire Leisure and Artswork investment through its role as SouthEast Bridge (2019 – 2023).

CURRENT PROJECTS:

The Now You See Me exhibition of new work and a mural created by young people not in mainstream education in Littlehampton is now LIVE. Learn more HERE

Created in with a range of artists and partners in a programme designed with young people themselves, we would love to hear your feedback [link to form here]

The Now You See Me exhibition has been created by young people who are out of mainstream education in Littlehampton as an approach to making a positive impact in their community. So your audience feedback is so important! Thanks for sharing your thoughts

Bognor Youth Community Garden Project

A new garden conceived and designed by young people from 4 local secondary schools to create a space supporting young people’s mental health in Bognor.

Download pdf version here

For 2023 – 26 Arun Inspires is a core part of Artswork’s programme and supported by partnership funding from Arun District Council.

Recent Projects

The programme’s priorities in Arun are to work with local children and young people to:

Build the potential and aspirations of Arun’s young people through meaningful creative skills and opportunities
Empower local young people to develop their voice and leadership
Support youth-led regeneration and increased pride of place
Explore creative solutions to young people’s wellbeing and mental health
Network local organisations, freelancers, youth services, young people, and schools to enhance youth led cultural provision locally
Enhance the creative offer in the District’s schools

The Power of Placemaking

Activate Young Cultural Changemakers focuses on five key places where we will be exploring how children and young people can be empowered to direct meaningful creative projects, transforming the areas they live in . We will support and train them to develop new skills, investing in quality art commissions that harness their ideas, placing control in the hands of young people and promoting youth-leadership.

The project is supported using public funding by Arts Council England to deliver on their ‘Let’s Create’ strategy. In the year 2023-24, as well as Arun, we will be positioned in four other areas in the South East –Dover, Slough, The Isle of Wight and The New Forest. This project will run from 2023-2026.

Find out more about the Young Cultural Changemakers programme here.

Digital badges

Young people who participate in the Young Cultural Changemakers Programme will have the opportunity to earn digital badges; online qualifications that can be used on a CV or applications. Find out more about digital badges here.

This programme will offer the opportunity for young people who have not previously engaged with arts and culture to achieve a Bronze Arts Award.

About Arun

Arun is a largely coastal district in West Sussex, to the West of Adur & Worthing and East of Chichester and has been identified by Arts Council England as a priority place, meaning there is currently low cultural engagement in the district. Since 2019, Artswork have been delivering our Arun Inspires programme, this work will feed into the Young Cultural Changemakers Programme to be delivered in Arun between 2023-2026. Find out more about how Priority Places were selected here.

Meet The Producer

“I’ve been working in Arun since 2019 with stakeholders from schools to businesses, artists, health workers, councillors and teachers. There’s a wealth of creativity to be explored locally, and lots of inspiration from the beautiful coastal and river scenery, to the sweep of the South Downs. Conversations I’ve had with local young people in the course of my work running our public art, cultural regeneration and creative careers programmes and supporting the Youth Council to date, have always been exciting and surprising. It's brilliant to have a chance now to focus on co-creation with these groups for the new phase of our work in the District, and I can’t wait to see where local young people's vision takes us. If you’d like to get involved, I’d be delighted to hear from you.” -Beccy East, Placemaking Creative Producer for Arun.

Get involved!

We want to get the views of as diverse a range of young people as possible – and particularly want to hear from young people who rarely have their voice heard. If you work with young people – whether in school or another youth setting – and would like them to have this great creative opportunity, please get in touch arun@artswork.org.uk

If you are a young person who would like to get involved, please get in touch to find out when our next community creative consultation will take place arun@artswork.org.uk

Recent Projects

Upcoming Events

Follow us on Facebook for upcoming consultations and future events and project news: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550915517110

Previous Projects

Mental Heath Commissions & Making It Better Toolkit

Youth Led Public Realm

Creative Careers

Cultural Regeneration

Collaborations with Health Service

Infrastructure Support

Schools, Training and Professional Development

Training and Events

Creative Apprenticeships

Breakthrough programme

Supporting and with Support from

Artswork is also supporting the work of a new Cultural Education Partnership (CEP) in West Sussex, whose activity will include a focus on the District of Arun. For further info see here.