A new project to support young people across Swindon is set to go ahead in the New Year thanks to funding from The National Lottery Community Fund totaling almost £400,000 over the next four years.
The brainchild of a group of local charities, the Swindon Youth Voice project will run workshops, discussions, creative activities and a programme of visits and guest speakers, all designed to help young people grow in confidence and be able to make a difference to the world around them.
Voluntary Action Swindon will oversee the project which will see youth activities organised on a weekly basis in different venues around the town in conjunction with local groups, SMASH, Swindon & Gloucester Mind, Inner Flame, and Prime Theatre.
The project also aims to help bring together youth services in Swindon and to make sure that young people can access the help and support they need.
“This project will be an important step in getting young people’s voices heard in Swindon” says Andy Malcolm from SMASH youth project. “We want to make sure that people from every background and every community can get involved.”
Delivering creative activities to help young people gain confidence and express themselves will be a key part of the project.
Prime Theatre, a Swindon-based arts charity that works with young people, will bring their experience using drama and the arts to offer fun, creative workshops to empower participants.
“This project is a great way for young people to be creative and explore how to use the arts to express themselves, share their views and have their voices heard’ says Helen Morley, Creative Arts Programme Lead at Prime Theatre. “We want to create a space for all young people to talk about what matters to them and where they can feel supported to achieve their goals.”
Working with people aged from 11 to 25, the project will kick off with a series of mini-events in communities around Swindon. “Our goal is to be as accessible as possible – we want to open it up to young people who often don’t feel that they are listened to” said Elizabeth Postgate, General Manager at Inner Flame youth training.
The project will work with 40 to 50 young people in the first year – as the work develops, more groups will be set up and communities will have the chance to get involved and work alongside the project.
“Our first big task is to recruit a project manager – that is the one part of the project that will be hosted at VAS, and key to delivering the whole project. From there it all gets going” says Jol Rose, project lead at Voluntary Action Swindon. “Anyone interested should definitely get in touch.”
