THE many ‘voices’ of North East Lincolnshire’s young people are being heard as part of an award-winning creative project.
A collection of some of the deepest and most meaningful feelings expressed by 11-25-year-olds has been compiled in ‘The Creative Connections Anthology’. With the work done during the two-year COVID pandemic, the young people were able to use the project to re-live some of the challenges they had to overcome, along with their friends and loved ones.
Led by Youth Action, a borough-wide social action group for 11 to 25-year-olds, a competition was launched asking people of the right age to submit creative pieces that showed their experiences of loneliness and isolation, and how being creative had helped them.
With funding from the National Lottery, local organisation Hammond House Publishing was brought in to help, the competition was judged, and the entries pulled together into The Creative Connections Anthology.
It was then entered into the 2021 national awards run by The Young Advisors Charity – a support body for young people’s groups across the UK, winning the Innovation and Creative Engagement category.
North East Lincolnshire Council’s Children’s Services supports Youth Action. Its delighted Voice & Influence Practitioner Pippa Curtin said: “The work you can see in this anthology displays, in such a unique way, the way some of our young people have been feeling and is something they have perhaps not been able to express vocally before.
“This is so powerful, and I would like to thank my colleagues here at the council, the National Young Advisors Charity, Hammond House Publishing, and the National Lottery along with everyone who has helped us promote the anthology and has encouraged young people to get involved. My largest thanks however, goes to the young people themselves – it is their creativity and ideas that have made this possible and we hope they have got as much out of it as we all have,” added Pippa.
North East Lincolnshire Council’s Portfolio Holder for Children and Education, Cllr Ian Lindley, was also thrilled with the project’s success:
“Across the country, we have seen evidence of how the last two years have been extremely hard for many of our young people whose ‘normal lives’ were turned upside down by the pandemic and lockdown. This is a wonderful way of them being able to express those feelings and all part of our council working with others to explore ways of supporting them,” he said.
If anyone would like to find out where to get help and advice for mental health, physical health relationships and staying safe there is a website for young people to explore https://livewell.nelincs.gov.uk/children-and-young-people-and-families/
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