The Accelerator: successful projects announced

We are excited to announce the successful projects who have been assigned a place on the Young Foundation Accelerator, the first phase of the Co-Creating Change Growth Commissions.

These six brilliant projects will take part to a five weeks development programme led by The Young Foundation, a charity focussed on developing better connected and stronger communities across the UK, which started on Monday 18th May.

They have been chosen because they represent successful, exciting co-creation methodologies with the potential to be further developed and upscaled.

We are really looking forward not only to seeing what learning comes from this shared experience, but also to see whether, at the end of the programme, the six projects feel ready to embark on an upscaling journey.

Projects taking part are:

Future Fires

by Contact Theatre

Future Fires is a programme that supports young artists to develop socially-engaged arts projects in their own community. During the twelve-month programme, Future Fires will receive high level training and mentoring to develop their creative practice, leadership and project management skills. Once the training is completed, Future Fires will receive up to £1000 of funding to make it happen! Future Fires has launched the careers of many young arts professional and supported the establishment of new charities and social enterprises including Reform Radio, Drawn Poorly and Uniquely Us.

Our Space

by Theatre Royal Plymouth

Our Space is a creative programme that works with adults who have multiple and complex needs. Members come from all walks of life and may have faced challenges involving homelessness, mental health issues, substance misuse, reoffending or may feel socially isolated for other reasons.

We are now in our eleventh year of running this project which was created as a direct response to street homeless people sleeping in the doorways of the Theatre and using drugs in the toilets. We invited them into the building, held conversations over a hot drink and found out from them what they wanted from us and how we could work together.

“It’s safe there. I got a base of friends there, I am welcome [..]I can go there any hour I like, theatre is my life now. I’m going in that one direction and I’m sticking with it.” Clive, Big Issue seller, Our Space member & steering committee member.

The Fightback – La Lucha

by Crowded Room

La Lucha is a new play co-created by Crowded Room, Jordi Lopez and 9 Latin American migrant cleaners as they fight for justice and understanding in the face of workplace exploitation.

Using a combination of documentary storytelling & scenes devised & edited by the group, the play invites audiences to walk in the shoes of ‘las luchadoras’ and to be inspired by the change that comes from collective action.

The result will be a post-corona live performance and a digital cartonera; an online book made from videos and illustrations by the women that charts the story of the migrant.

‘I think that every day, we make notes in our… in our book of life. We all have so many wonderful things saved away, and kept close, to offer. These are moments that we’ve not been able to portray, but we’ve kept them close’ Guadalupe Norizt

We Are Anything But Ordinary

By Georgina Bednar (No Ordinary Experience)

This project works with local residents to provide a platform for them to share their life stories – speaker as expert. From these stories, quotes are selected connecting to local themes. In 2020, We Are Anything But Ordinary will take place in Barking and explore the themes of ‘home’. These quotes will be displayed on street walls in the local area, co-designed by participants & local artists. The project hopes to create both deep engagement with local residents and connect with the wider communities that the residents come from. The project also has an intergenerational aspect, with young people acting as curators or having the option to design an audio tour. The project hopes to progress social cohesion across disparate neighbourhoods, ones often living side by side and struggling to connect.

Co-programming with Communities

By Strike A Light

We are exploring models of co-creating with communities to produce and programme cultural activity where they live. We believe that the transference of cultural power from arts organisations to community members is vital to truly diversify the sector and audiences and to futureproof the industry. Co-created programming is a key way of doing this and we would like to share what has worked, as well as things that haven’t. We would like to look at how the standard model of arts consultancy (one arts organisation to another) could be changed and itself co-created with community members as consultants.

“I feel like the two organisations work well together, we really help and support each other…I never thought I would have conversations with a company about programming my own show or how to make creative things happen and I’m doing it. The aim for GL4 is to continue doing what we’re doing. To continue making change for people, raising young people’s aspirations and give them the opportunities they wouldn’t have normally had.” Naomi, community producer, GL4, Gloucester

Global Voices Events

by Global Voices Theatre

Global Voices Theatre is a female, non-binary, immigrant led company platforming underrepresented voices worldwide in inclusive, innovative and intersectional ways. We co-design and produce sites of discovery and curiosity with local and international creatives to come together and experience stories from the wider, global community.

“Working with Global Voices Theatre on Global Black Voices was a huge honour, and I’m so glad they asked me to curate the night. The way the team gave me the freedom to be as involved as much or as little as I wanted to be made the process as easy as it could be, and the sell-out final showcase couldn’t have gone any better.” Bridget Minamore, Global Black Voices curator