What’s been happening on Voice this Spring?
VOICE TRAINING & OUTREACH
Judy McFall – Creative Pathways Manager & Participation Lead
Voice Collective 2025
Our first ever Voice Collective event took place in April at the Ikon gallery in Birmingham, bringing together our community of young people to further their skills in reviewing and learn from industry professionals. We were joined by the wonderful Helen O’Hara of Empire Magazine who shared her knowledge and expertise within the industry and gave great advice on how to get into journalism. The packed day included a gallery tour, creative reviewing, podcasting and interviewing sessions. It was wonderful to see so many young creatives come together from across the Midlands and share their stories!
Local Reviewers
Our local reviewers in Mansfield, Shropshire and Stoke learn how to podcast, voxpop and interview creatives whilst also getting out and about to review arts events. Our South Shropshire group organised a 1920s night and film screening of the Great Gatsby at Ludlow Assembly Rooms, with the support from Arts Alive – Flicks in the Sticks Thank you to all, it was a great event! We’re looking forward to reading your reviews of events and festivals across the summer.
We want to develop young reviewers across the Midlands, giving young people a voice about their local arts scene. If you’re interested in working with us on a youth reviewing or journalism project, please get in touch with [email protected].
Action Research
We’ve been working with Dudley Virtual School on an action research project with care experienced young people. We ran consultation and podcasting workshops to explore their knowledge of careers in the creative industries. We worked with 12 young people who were insightful and knowledgeable of the industry, with 3 groups each producing podcasts. We met some very talkative and confident young people and it was a delight to work with them! The Action Research was funded and supported by Arts Connect and The Mighty Creatives.
Emrys Green – Associate for Training and Services
2025 continues to be a time when many organisations are keen to strengthen youth voice.. We’ve been out and about supporting a range of sector events and have enjoyed delivering training to young people and professionals at a community arts space in London as well as virtual training to numerous school professionals in Essex. Check out our offer here
We also attended ‘My Place’ – an exhibition showcasing some of the work produced through ‘Our House’ – the Creative Alternative Education Project we’re proud to be working on with the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham.
Rounding off the past few months is the exciting news of a successful bid from ChalleNGe for Nottingham to become a Creative Child Friendly City unlocking investment of £1.5m into the city. Voice is a partner in this programme and delighted to continue our facilitation of the Nottingham Youth Cultural Partnership: Connecting Notts
Read about Voice Magazine’s early summer coverage here