The Mohn Westlake Foundation is pleased to be working with the Leeds Community Foundation on The Mohn Westlake Foundation Youth Engagement Fund, to support nine community organisations across Leeds with grants of up to £10,000 each year for up to 3 years.
The programme aims to increase engagement, experience and experimentation for those less likely or able to access arts in Leeds in the run up to Leeds 2023, including organisations working with young people who are, or perceive that they are, excluded or disengaged from opportunities in the arts.
Project activities range from delivering workshops around spoken word, to creative writing, to developing podcasts, to producing a digital story exploring identity and inequality – all so young people can tell their stories.
Projects include:
Balbir Singh Dance Company; Language of Rhythm introduces children from diverse ethnic backgrounds to Kathak and contemporary dance tapping in to their own cultural heritages.
Black Heath Initiative (BHI); supporting and encouraging those who often feel that barriers (real and/or perceived) are in place stopping them from accessing the arts and showcase their talent.
Dance Action Zone Leeds; allowing young people with a learning disability to explore their feelings and aspirations whilst focusing on their ability not their disability through the use of dance, movement and digital media.
Music and Art Production Leeds; providing an empowering music and arts programme for young people who are at risk of exclusion from mainstream education.
Pyramid of Arts; this project will support Pyramid’s YoYos Group to develop individually and collectively as artists as they transition into adulthood.
RJC Dane; working to sustain the organisation and its community engagement work through an annual programme of performance, education and creative dance activities that support the health & wellbeing of our children, young people, families and communities online until face-to-face work can safely resume.
Space 2 Leeds; offering a multi-disciplinary arts programme with opportunities for CYP to work with a range of professional artists and art forms over three years.
Tutti Frutti Theatre; aiming to develop a digital story with linked creative activities exploring identity and inequality, to be delivered for primary schools across Leeds and via social media.
Voluntary Arts; Lift the lid, from The Voluntary Arts Network (operating as Voluntary Arts), is an ‘Up For Arts’ project delivered in partnership with BBC Radio Leeds, engaging young people in poetry, spoken word, creative writing and music to improve wellbeing.
To learn more about this project, please visit the grantees website: leedscf.org.uk
Image: Balbir Singh Dance Company