What's on Calendar

In partnership with Durham’s Children’s Social Care, Creativity Works is undertaking a research project to identify if the arts and creativity is of value to care experienced children in County Durham and, if so, how provision might best be developed to meet their ongoing needs. There will be a particular focus on care-experienced young people transitioning from care into independent living (those aged 14-25).

To better understand the needs of these young people we are inviting service users, foster carers, social workers, Durham Social Care senior leaders and creative practitioners/organisations to contribute to the research.

We plan to collect both quantitative and qualitative data through online questionnaires, focus groups, and one-to-one interviews.

This particular focus group session is aimed at creative practitioners and organisations who already provide creative activities to young people in County Durham, regardless of whether or not they are offering  activities specifically for care experienced young people.

By participating in this focus group you will contribute to the development of a deeper understanding of:

• the creative activities service users most value
• the current levels of engagement
• barriers to engagement
• service users’ experiences of engagement in the arts and creativity, both positive and negative
• the benefits of the arts and creativity to services users
• gaps in provision and areas for potential development

At the end of the project everyone involved in the research will be invited to dissemination events where we will share the research findings and invite discussions on how the findings might support the development of provision going forward.

For further information about this initiative please contact Jane Shaw: jane@createnorth.co.uk

Creativity Works

Creativity Works is a social enterprise which creates opportunities for people from disadvantaged communities and marginalised groups to access the arts, develop artistic and creative skills sets, acquire industry specific know how and know who and build creative careers. Creativity Works work with cultural, arts and heritage organisations to reduce the barriers to engagement by disadvantaged and marginalised groups and address the lack of a diverse workforce across the creative sector.