What’s been happening on Voice so far in 2025?
Judy McFall, Voice Company Manager and Participation Lead
I’m thrilled and proud to become Voice’s Company Manager and can’t wait to drive the team forward and continue leading the fantastic participation and pathways programmes we’ve established and continue to grow.
We have three successful Local Reviewer groups, in Mansfield, Shropshire and Stoke, collaborating with some great theatre and museum venues, rural touring companies and experts in the cultural sector, to support young people in accessing live and engaging events. We have had filmmakers, theatre practitioners, podcasters and our experienced editor work with the groups to upskill them in reviewing, learning new creative media skills and going to a variety of events. Check out the many reviews from each group here!
We’re also developing our partnerships further and working with Dudley Virtual Schools to research what care experienced children & young people think about the creative industries, and whether there are enough opportunities in creative career pathways available to them. We’re also excited to potentially work with young carers across the Midlands – we will keep you posted on exciting developments!
In 2025 I’m looking forward to developing more partnerships across the Midlands. If you’re interested in creating a Local Reviewer group, get in touch with me!
Tom Beasley, Voice Editor
This has already been a great year for Voice editorially, with a very nice increase in visitors to our website. We’ve run a series of articles exploring The #MeToo Legacy across the arts and creative industries, including a deep dive into the British wrestling world and several amazing pieces by our roster of young writers, which I have felt very privileged to commission and edit.
I’ve also been working with a terrific new group of Voice Contributors, who have already produced amazing blog pieces and reviews about everything from film to music to theatrical productions. It has been a pleasure to pass on as much expertise to them as I can, while also bringing in other journalism professionals to offer their own insight. I look forward to reading everything else they’re able to put together as part of the VC programme.
Finally, I would like to extend an enormous thank you to Eva Carolan, who has been working with Voice throughout March as an editorial intern. She has been a delight to work with and brought plenty of her own ideas to the table, including her thoughtful examination of the “romantasy” trend in her series: Is This Just Fantasy. I look forward to continuing to see Eva develop her writing and creative skills and have no doubt that she’ll go very far indeed.
Dayna Jeynes, Voice Co-ordinator
Since the New Year, our Voice Reviewers have had an abundance of opportunities to explore and experience new and exciting events and performances in their area! We have welcomed new Voice Reviewers to our group as well as partnering with new organisations such as BFI Flare and our reviewers have posted over 40 reviews so far in 2025!
Over the next few months, our Voice Reviewers will be attending Brighton Fringe, SO Festival in Lincolnshire, Mansfield Film Festival and many more that we look forward to sharing with you.
Our Voice Reviewers are young people across the UK that struggle with cost of accessing the arts – this programme is set up to get young people in the room and to help them develop professional portfolios and experiences to take into their creative careers!
In addition to the success of our Voice Reviewers programme, we are incredibly pleased to say that we fulfilled and exceeded our £2000 target as part of the Arts for Impact 2025 Big Give campaign! We are very grateful to all of our supporters and we look forward to helping more young people with those donations.
Emrys Green, Associate Director
It’s been a wonderful start to 2025 with a range of projects to get stuck in to. Our Kids in Museums Young Trustees Development programme has trained more young people, our young creative leaders at the Nottingham Youth Partnership have delivered an exceptional events for other creatives in the region, and the Creative Alternative Education Project and Youth Archive we’re supporting in the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham has been having a great impact. All three of these initiatives have young people at the heart and each providing very different support and opportunities – but tailored to what these young people need. Working on such a range of interventions is exciting to really see ‘what works’ across the sector.
In addition, we’ve been delivering training on youth voice for education leaders in Essex, for young people at Kew Gardens and the heritage team in the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham. We have more training booked in for organisations which is something we love, because it means the focus on youth voice is growing across the sector, and we’d love to have even more organisations join us at our upcoming public training too.
We’ve also been delighted to continue working with a range of Arts Award centres to understand their needs and how we and our partners can continue to develop support for young people and play our part in continual enhancement of the arts education landscape.
Here’s to the rest of 2025 and even more focus on young people’s voice in the arts.