World Art Day 2020
15 April 2020
Happy World Art Day! This day is an opportunity for us at London Youth to marvel at the extraordinary creativity, talent and resilience of the young people, youth workers and community organisations in our network, who constantly inspire us. The arts can have a positive impact on young people’s lives and wellbeing, and that that’s needed now more than ever. In London and all over the world, we are living through strange times. Many children and young people are isolated from their friends and communities, and they are coping with a lot of change and uncertainty. They might be feeling scared or nervous, or perhaps just bored. We know that many of them are turning to the creative activities they love in order to relax, reach out and stay positive.
Over the last few months we took submissions for our third Visual Art Competition for young people. This year’s competition was our biggest yet, with 83 entries from 74 young people, representing 20 youth organisations in 14 boroughs! The competition showcased once again how much creativity and talent young Londoners have. We think the world could do with a pick-me-up like that right now. So, although we can’t host our usual exhibition, we decided to takeover London Youth’s Instagram page with a digital exhibition of the shortlisted entries. We will be announcing the winners tomorrow!
Click here to visit our Instagram and view this year’s pieces.
We’ve also been inspired by how many amazing activities, resources and opportunities for young people have emerged online in the last few weeks, and we’ve gathered some of our favourites together to share ideas with anyone looking for fun and creative ideas.
Even though so much of our lives is going digital at the moment, we know there is still a lot we can learn from coming together to share good practice, taking a step back to reflect and dreaming big about what experiences we want to give young people. That’s why will be taking our Creativity & Culture Network online, to ensure that frontline youth professionals still have the opportunity to come together and share ideas.
If you have ideas or want support with delivering arts activities with your young people, we’d love to hear from you and we can support to develop their ideas, information and advice, help with the Arts Award, or connections to other organisations that can help bring your plans to life. If you’d like to have a conversation about any of these things, contact our Arts Development Manager, Emily. At a time like this, art and creativity are more important than ever. If you’d like to chat about what we can do for young people, we’ll be here.
Click here to view a selection of creative opportunities for young people.
