A new initiative helping disadvantaged young Londoners break into the growing creative sector launched at the Barbican’s Ram Place pop-up fashion market.
The three-year programme, Creativity Works, hopes to provide opportunities for hundreds of aspiring 17 to 24 year olds from disadvantaged backgrounds, who haven’t been in education, employment or training for at least six months.
There will be 12 ‘training on the job’ projects in thriving sectors like design, film, fashion, theatre, advertising and photography.
Munira Mirza, Deputy Mayor for education and culture, spoke at the launch of the project at the Ram Place, a 10-day pop-up fashion hub set up by the Barbican theatre, off Morning Lane.
Ms Mirza said: “We want more young people to think of the creative world as a place that they could work one day rather than an elite and far away sector.
“Hackney has this exciting reputation where people come if they want to make it in the creative world and who knows, maybe people today will go on and start their own fashion label or something.”
Creativity Works is a collaboration between the Mayor’s Fund for London and property developers, the Berkeley Foundation, whose employees will offer the young people mentoring, with advice on CVs and interview technique.
The initiative was launched off the success of the Fashion Pilot Project - a collaboration between The Mayor’s Fund for London, and arts and cultures organisations Create and A New Direction - which saw young people meet fashion guru Jean Paul Gaultier in Paris.
Nadine Davis, 22, from Well Street, Hackney South, who took part in the pilot as a marketing and PR intern at Hackney based monthly arts magazine Dazed, also spoke at the launch.
She told the audience how she has found the confidence to set up her own streetwear brand StrutDaily because of the experience.
She said: “This experience has given me a fresh start - an opportunity to do whatever I dream of.
“My confidence was really low before starting this course and I felt like I couldn’t chase my dreams after having a child but it’s allowed me to see that anything imaginable is achievable.
“A lot of young people feel that they’re not given a chance but we are - we just need to put ourselves out there and not expect things to happen overnight.”
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