Creative Citizens: Leicester City Takeover 2022
Creative Citizens is the Talent Development strand of our City Takeovers, in which we work with a range of community partners across the city to create opportunities for young people to engage with and create art. For Leicester 2022:
We commissioned Attenborough Arts Centre to deliver Between the Lines, a collaborative outreach project led by artist Christopher Samuel and 10 of Attenborough's NextGen Creatives, an integrated group of disabled and non-disabled young people. The project engaged 12 young people and sought to creatively explore their lived experiences of shielding during the first Covid-19 lockdown. The resulting work was a digital piece, exhibited at Attenborough Arts Centre in Feb 2021 and during the UKNA City Takeover in Feb 2022.
We commissioned Pedestrian to deliver a music project where 8 young people worked with musicians Naji ‘Wavey’ Richards, Strizzy Strauss and Matt Smith to explore lyric writing and composition, to create a new song inspired by their city. The piece was shared at the UKNA City Takeover, alongside performances from 4 of Pedestrians Emerging Artists programme.
As a continuation of our digital 'Making New Friends' workshops during the 2020-2021 lockdowns, we invited 10 young people from Nottingham and Leicester to attend the festival together. The group took part in a mapping and printmaking workshop with Kirsty Kerr, spent time exploring the visual art works exhibited at Attenborough Arts Centre, saw four live performances including poetry, music and theatre and attended a Q&A with the Takeover's musicians.
"I've only been playing for a few months but this has given me the confidence and boost needed to keep going!" Pedestrian Participant
"[I would recommend UKNA activities because] I can guarantee that you will leave with 10 times more ideas and inspiration than you could imagine. It really opens your eyes to new and wonderful things that have never crossed your mind before" Taken from Making New Friends feedback