Building on a previous project for young people, the Young Volunteers Community Arts Project offered a small group an in-depth and focused experience. At its heart was the aim of fostering a positive attitude between young people and the community through printmaking. It supported the exploration and understanding of barriers and incentives for the engagement of young people both as volunteers and members.
Six young people aged between 20 and 24, contributed more than a day a week of their own time over three months to participate. The young people received training in workshop practice, marketing and project management to deliver a programme of Outreach workshops in the local community. Working alongside experienced arts administrators and artists and supported by a volunteer Young People’s Representative, the six volunteers planned and ran the project as well as delivering the art workshops. As a group, they took a lead on all the decision-making: choosing the workshops’ theme, design of publicity material and project blog and putting together an exhibition of work created during the project.
The young volunteers felt it important to involve members of the community who might not usually have the opportunity to take part in art workshops. They delivered their workshops to a local primary school, a group of young carers, young disabled people and residents from Swansea and the local area under the theme: Going, Going, Not Quite Gone! This title represented the issue of endangered species of Wales which was of concern to the young volunteers keen to raise awareness and interest in the biodiversity of the local area.
The legacy of the project extended across the organisation, informing our strategic objectives and development in different areas but particularly around the involvement of young people, volunteer recruitment and accessibility requirements.
The young volunteers initiated a dialogue with Disability Arts Wales and SPW embraced the recommendations highlighted to encourage greater involvement of disabled people across our audience profile.
The Young People’s Representative researched and produced a paper on the barriers and incentives for the involvement and retention of young people in the organisation. A commitment from the Board of Directors to support the proposals raised was made in 2011.
Following this project, the young people went on to form their own youth-led group, Kaleidoscope, to mentor and train other young volunteers. In 2011 the group attracted further funding from Gwirvol to run a community project: I, Me, Mine. A collection of contemporary self-portraits was exhibited at Swansea Print Workshop in 2012.
As is the nature of young people, they have since gone on to employment, further education and PGCE training and Kaleidoscope is currently on hold.
PARTICIPATING YOUNG PEOPLE: Project Assistant: Joyce Li | Marketing and Events Assistant: Carly Llewellyn | Community Artists: Charlotte Higgins, Matthew Otten, Rosie Hughes and Amy Treharne | with Luke Bolch as Young People’s Representative
PARTICIPATING GROUPS: St Helen’s Primary School | SNPT Crossroads Young Carers Project | Crug Glas School & Sea View Community Primary School
You can read more about the project and the participants at the dedicated project blog: SPW Young Volunteers
Prosiect Celfyddydau Cymunedol i wirfoddolwyr Ifanc | 2010-2011 | GWIRVOL
Gan adeiladu ar brosiect blaenorol i bobl ifanc, roedd y prosiect hwn wedi cynnig profiad cynhwysfawr â ffocws i grwˆ p bach o bobl. Yn ganolog i hyn oedd y nôd o ddefnyddio argraffu i feithrin cyd berthynas bositif rhwng pobl ifanc â’r gymuned. Archwiliwyd a magwyd dealltwriaeth o’r rhwystrau a’r cymhellion wrth ddelio â phobl ifanc fel aelodau a gwirfoddolwyr.
The project took place in 2010-11 and was made possible by funding from Gwirvol.
