Developing Opportunities into Creative Industries for Young People in Crewe

Mako Create has been commissioned by Cheshire East Council to deliver a three-year project offering young people, who are facing challenging circumstances, opportunities to learn new skills, get hands-on experience and find out about the different routes into creative careers and the roles available.

Project Overview

We are looking for young people with an interest in the creative sector, between the ages of 11 and 25, who would like to develop their creative and personal skill set. 

The projects will cover an array of cultural, art, and media subjects such as:

Film-Making, Animation, Photography, Merchandise Production, Graphic Design, Audio Production, Computer Game Design, Music Making and Creative Coding 

Our courses/workshops will be open to mixed ability levels, with no previous experience required. Those facing challenging circumstances, whether they may be a young carer, in foster care or not in education, employment or training (NEET) are welcome to join us.

The programme is made up of three main projects: “Creative taster sessions”, “Explore Creativity” and “Boost Creativity”. All three projects are interlinked and all have the same goal, to inspire young people to learn more about creative skills. Whilst linked, participants can mix and match, meaning they could attend just one taster session and nothing else, or focus solely on the boost creativity project. It’s designed to be flexible, allowing everyone to focus on what will benefit them as individuals.

Creative Taster Sessions

We will be delivering a range of one-off creative workshops, each focusing on different areas of art, media and digital technology (mentioned in the list above). 

These sessions will provide participants with a unique hands on experience, new skills and an opportunity to meet like minded individuals. 

These sessions will be happening throughout Crewe, some of these workshops will be in affiliation with local youth services, whilst others will be in public venues. 

Interested young people can then expand on these skills later on as we offer more opportunities to develop creative skills via our other projects.

Explore Creativity Project

Explore Creativity supports young people to expand their creative knowledge and skills.
The project provides participants with the chance to experience a range of hands-on engaging creative subjects.                                                                                                                       
We will be working in partnership with Crewe Library, to deliver the project over 9 weekly sessions.   
As part of the project, participants will work towards Arts Award Explore. The award is an Entry Level (Entry 3) qualification which is part of the Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF).     
       

Boost Creativity Project

Boost Creativity is here to support those that have a stronger idea of what creative field they enjoy and get them to develop more advanced creative skills. This gives young people more time to focus and develop the skills they’re interested in, whilst still having the ability to branch out and try new things.

This project is driven by practical workshops that are highly engaging; encouraging interaction with art mediums and other creative minds, whilst being offered plenty of support. It’s a perfect opportunity to interact with Crewe’s local, cultural, and creative scenes!

As part of the project, participants will work toward Arts Award Discover. The award is a Level 1 qualification which is part of the Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF). 

Rewards

To help enable young people from challenging backgrounds attend the sessions, a range of incentives have been arranged. These include refreshments during the sessions, those that commit to the course will be rewarded as participants can earn vouchers for attending each session. Participants that see the project to the end will receive an extra bonus reward during our awards ceremony. The above rewards apply to both the Exploring and Boosting Creativity projects.

We have travel grants available for those in challenging circumstances, to help ensure they can attend the sessions they’re interested in.

How to apply

We will be posting more information on both our website and social media channels, find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

If you or someone you know would like to be involved or find out more information, just get in touch!