C Can you tell me about some of the initiatives you’ve run recently?
N We’re just coming to the end of the summer holidays, and we've been doing lots of projects with young carers, including a circus making project for three days. We've been working in adolescent psychiatric hospital units, giving them a chance to express themselves through making ceramics and making music. We’ve just finished a music project in the north west with a group of children looked after (in the care system).
C And how do those different groups require a different approach?
N Every project is individually designed. We always partner with another organisation. It might be a young carers’ charity, it might be a prison, it might be a psychiatric hospital, it might be a day centre for older people. And we consult with the participants to find out which artform(s) and theme(s) they're interested in exploring.
All of our programmes are run by professional, practising artists, whether that’s a professional musician, a dancer, a filmmaker, or a sculptor. And each project is individually designed to meet the objectives of the partner organisation and the needs of the participants who we're working with. So that's the starting point.
C And how have you observed the impact of the workshops that you've run on those communities?
N One of the wonders of Create is that every single project we run has a unique impact on the group of people involved.
Across the board they're building skills, confidence and new relationships. I visited a day centre for older people and one of the participants told me that when she leaves the centre on a Thursday, she doesn't see anybody until she comes back in on the Monday. Our project brings her together with other people and gives her the chance to be creative.
We work a lot with young carers, children aged five up to eighteen who care for a loved one. There's a young carer called Abi — we've worked with her since she was seven years old — and she told me that she had to get up at four in the morning to do her homework because when she gets home from school she's caring for her older brother who has autism, for her little sister, and for her mum.
When we bring these carers together for a three day project, it gives them a chance to meet other children who are carers, who understand the kind of home lives they have. They have a chance to have fun, to do something they haven't done before, to build new skills, to build new relationships. I always love it at the end of projects when you see young people swapping contact details so they can keep in touch.