Creating Connections: Platforming Whitby student voices

In response to the issue of creative isolation, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, Amos Bursary student and The Ideas Foundation alumnus, Divine Agumba, proposed a project aimed to unite young creatives and improve wellbeing through creativity. It was through her idea that Creating Connections was formed, a programme funded by UCB; designed and delivered by the Ideas Foundation.

Thriving local culture, colloquialisms, communities, and support networks are all important to our wellbeing, and are often overlooked. Post-lockdowns, it’s easy to be grateful for ‘normal’. But what is ‘normal’ if our way of living is disrupted and the tools to maintain our mental health are no longer there for us?

In Whitby, their ‘business-as-usual’ is being impacted by the rise in short-term lettings and second homes surge, and local students are seeing changes in the way the community runs. The call for creative connection came and Creating Connections partnered with Eskdale school to deliver the programme to a group of KS3 students. With the school’s imminent closure in 2024, this programme couldn’t have come at a better time as the students and teachers alike feel the impact on their wellbeing.

Initial discussions with the students led to the design of a number of creative workshops identified to benefit their wellbeing. Ideas Foundation facilitators led workshops focusing on mental health and wellbeing and tools to manage this, before deep diving into poetry, drama and photography.

Working on the theme ‘emotional intelligence’, the Ideas Foundation facilitator Adisa the Verbaliser led a group of 30 students through a poetry session. The students were able to explore their own wellbeing by crafting poems. The following day, facilitator Ben Worth worked with the students to turn their poetry into drama pieces. In partnership with Canon, facilitators Tom Martin, Michael Cockerham and Ben Worth encouraged students to explore ‘what it means to be a young person in Whitby’ through a 3-day photography workshop. The students were also given a budget to tailor their own activities; choosing a trip to London, where they saw a West End show and vistied the Barbican. They were led on a tour by an ex-Eskdale student. A great full circle moment!

“I felt happy in the workshop because I got to meet new people and do new things” – Eskdale student

“I was blown away by their maturity talking about mental health and wellbeing. The workshops really brought the kids out of their shells. There’s a need to have time and space to be creative without a set of criteria and tick list of what they have to achieve and being on task all the time. Standing back and letting them do it, they came up with the goods. The workshops showed what education could be.”

– Ian Bloor, Teacher at Eskdale School.