About the Youth Voice Project

About Ignite Creativity

Ignite Creativity is Calderdale’s LCEP (Local Cultural Education Partnership). The organisation exists to advocate for, support and strategically develop the cultural education of children and young people up to age 25 in Calderdale.

Ignite Creativity’s aim is to ensure that every child and young person in Calderdale has access to valuable and high-quality cultural experiences. To do this, we want to make sure that we are engaging with as many people as possible involved with cultural education for children and young people in Calderdale. We focus on partnership work across a wide range of arts and cultural organisations and freelancers, youth groups and services, schools, colleges and alternative education settings.

About the Youth Voice Project

Ignite Creativity worked with Everybody Arts to conduct an insight gathering process, the Youth Voice project, from August 2023 to January 2024. This consultation was developed in response to Calderdale’s Culture Strategy, which recognised the importance of young people’s voices as ‘key to the ongoing development of the Cultural Strategy’, as well as shaping Ignite Creativity.

As the first large-scale investigation into arts and culture for young people in Calderdale, the consultation was designed to offer insights into the current state of the sector and to develop recommendations for development. Ignite Creativity plans to continue building on the data collected during this project with future research and consultation projects, and will look to collaborate with partners in this work.

Aims of the report

The report explores the current state and perceptions of cultural educational provision for children and young people in Calderdale, with the ultimate goal of better informing strategic and action planning for children and young people by Ignite Creativity, our stakeholders, partners and the wider cultural sector.

This report is designed for all who are interested in and involved with the cultural education of young people in Calderdale, with a focus on activities relating to 12-16-year-olds. Many of the findings will also be relevant to the development of cultural activities across Yorkshire and nationally.

Participants

The consultation worked to engage key stakeholders in cultural education for young people in Calderdale. The primary target group for the consultation was young people aged 12-16, and it is their thoughts and words that are prioritised throughout this report.

Many adults were also consulted during the consultation, with their responses divided across four key groups:

• Parents and carers

• School teachers and staff

• Arts and cultural organisations and freelancers

• Youth services

Research methodology

The consultation primarily took place through questionnaires. These were completed either on paper, online or through a facilitated session, depending on the preference of the participant. We recognise that research projects of this nature act as steps in the process, and that this project will evolve with new methodologies for its future iterations.

There are some limitations to the research, where there may be a non-response bias where those who are already engaged with culture might be more inclined to engage with the project. Response numbers have been limited. 851 responses were received from young people, out of the 14,745 students on roll in years 7 to 11 in Calderdale in January 2024 (5.8%). A reduced number of adults responded to the survey, with 94 responses in total.

Glossary

Adults When we refer to adults who took part in the research, we are referring to a cross section of parents, teachers and arts professionals.

Creativity We work from the Durham Commission definition of creativity as ‘capacity to imagine, conceive, express, or make something that was not there before’.

Culture A wide ranging term, culture can refer to activities, places and traditions.

LCEP Local Cultural Education Partnership.

Young people When we refer to young people, we usually mean anyone who is 25 or under. In the context of this report, we usually mean the young people who took part in the research, aged 12-16.