What can be learned from this project?
The approach has depended for its success on a number of critical factors:
• Town Teams were a good structure in which to channel young people’s participation. Furthermore, by being made up of local people known to the participants, the Town Teams were felt to be more approachable and less intimidating than than they otherwise might have been.
• Local projects have been ‘championed’ by a key member of each Town Team, ensuring that there has been whole-hearted ‘buy-in’ and sufficient support (including local knowledge, contacts, and access to community resources).
• The enthusiasm and commitment of the creative practitioners, particularly their skill in transferring technical know-how and their ability to engage with young people on issues of concern to them.
Articulating concerns through a creative process
• The co-ordinating role of an intermediary organisation (in this case CIDA) to bring the key partners together and to maximise synergies between different initiatives.
• The willingness of a wide range of stakeholders and other interested parties (including local residents and the business community to engage with the young people when undertaking their projects.
• The Learning Lab funding, without which it seems unlikely that any of this work would have happened.
However, projects such as this also face a number of challenges. Cre8’s dependence on short-term discretionary funding implies that the benefits will not necessarily be sustained far beyond the delivery period. Ideally, consideration needs to be given to recruiting young people year-on-year. This might allow for a culture of young people’s participation to be fostered, generating more sustainable outcomes.
Initial findings also suggest that more work is needed to make this approach appealing to young people from more disadvantaged backgrounds and excluded groups.
Topics associated with this project
Analysis, Breakthrough thinking, Communication, Decision making, Project management, Skills, Stakeholder management, Visioning, Yorkshire and Humber