Impact Arts has appointed two Youth Trustees to join our Board. We’re thrilled to welcome Humna Bukhari and Rachel Maclean.

As an arts charity delivering life-changing creative programmes to people of all ages, including children and young people, it’s important to us to ensure the voices of young people are central to our governance and strategy.

We are committed to building a Board that reflects the diversity of the people and communities that we serve and we value the benefit of having different experiences and points of view amongst our Trustees.

We are actively trying to increase the diversity of our Board and specifically to put young people at the heart of our organisational decision-making. This aligns with the re-establishment of the Sketchy Youths, our Youth Steering Group.

Get to know our new Youth Trustees!

Humna Bukhari

Why did you want to join Impact Arts Board as a Youth Trustee?

After interning for Impact Arts, I felt a need to join their mission in one way or another.

The way Impact Arts does things is inclusive, bold and, well, impactful! I’d love nothing more to be a part of that once again.

Tell us more about yourself and your experience prior to joining Impact Arts as a Trustee.

I am a psychology graduate who is currently working as a carer. Aside from that, I make and sell art as a hobby.

What do you hope to achieve as a Youth Trustee for Impact Arts?

I learned so much during my time, and am grateful to have the chance to keep that going!

Rachel Maclean

Why did you want to join Impact Arts Board as a Youth Trustee?

I’ve followed along with Impact Arts and the projects for a while now, having taken part in a similar project myself before coming to university. Access to free creative arts projects gave me the push to go and study design further. Without access to these projects, I would have never attended university, which has opened up so many doors for me and allowed me to pursue design professionally, which is something I never thought I would do.

I wanted to join the Board with the hope that I would be able to share my opinions and perspective, which hopefully will help improve the representation of young people, especially young people who rely on free creative arts projects as a gateway, whether that’s to go on to study further, find employment, or just to foster creativity.

I really believe that being creative and getting involved in the arts can make a massive difference to your life, from the positive effects arts engagement can have on your mental health and wellbeing to the transferable skills that can be gained through engagement in creativity and creative projects.

Tell us more about yourself and your experience prior to joining Impact Arts as a Trustee.

I’m currently a graphic design student at Duncan and Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee, hoping to pursue print design and photography. I love anything to do with art and design, and I’m a big outdoors person. I spent a lot of time when I was younger doing environmental volunteering, which gave me a massive love and appreciation for the environment and a strong interest in conservation, something that has stayed with me and influenced the way that I work within design.

I’ve worked within fundraising and social media within university recently as part of the Dundee University Sign Language Society, having been our social media coordinator for two years now, and fundraising coordinator for a year!

I originally joined the society to learn basic BSL and gain more awareness about D/deaf culture. But over the last few years, I’ve been able to learn about fundraising, raising money for charity, social media, and, most importantly, got to meet and work with amazing charities and people within the D/deaf community.

What do you hope to achieve as a Youth Trustee for Impact Arts?

I hope that, alongside Humna, I will be able to provide a different and unique opinion to the Board and be able to bring a different perspective, one which will hopefully be valuable and aligned with other young people involved in Impact Arts. I want to listen to those participating in projects and the people around me within the charity, making sure I understand their perspective and opinion, so I can better communicate this at a Board level.

I hope to make sure that young people within projects feel listened to, valued, and know that their opinions and experiences within the charity are important and that they are being communicated at a Board level. Nothing is more valuable than a lived experience, and the people who take part in projects have the most perspective and knowledge to give, and this will be what I focus on within my time on the Board. 

Thank you to Rachel and Humna for sharing your stories. The whole team at Impact Arts is thrilled to have you both onboard.

Impact Arts is a leading arts charity based in Scotland. Since 1994, we’ve been delivering life-changing creative arts and support programmes for children, young people, adults, families, and older people who are facing disadvantages or barriers to progress in life. Our mission is to tackle inequalities, address poverty, and transform lives through art and creativity.  

For the first time, Scottish arts charity Impact Arts is sharing a manifesto, urging Scotland’s leaders to invest in art programmes as a way to tackle inequality and poverty.

We’re advocating for the people we support and amplifying their voices.

Impact Through Art: Tackling Inequality & Poverty in Scotland

A Manifesto by Impact Arts

Our Vision: A Scotland where people and communities benefit from life-transforming creativity that tackles inequalities and addresses poverty.

Our Ask: Impact Arts urges Scotland’s leaders to invest in life-changing arts-based and creative approaches which can build a more inclusive, stronger, and imaginative society able to address societal inequalities and poverty.

WELLBEING

1) Recognise Creative Engagement as a Public Health Approach12

Give equal recognition to participation in the arts alongside traditionally recognised health improvement approaches such as participation in sports and physical activity and healthy eating. Scientific evidence demonstrates the physical and mental benefits for all ages and communities including those who experience poverty and inequality from taking part in creative activities.

This upholds Article 31 of the UNCRC which recognises children’s rights to a cultural and artistic life.

2) Improve Access to Creative Preventative Mental Health Approaches34

Recognise that engagement in quality creative activities promotes wellbeing and improves mental health.5

Creative approaches address the mental health crisis through early intervention, preventing escalation of mental health problems and aiding recovery.

Long-term community-based interventions support mental and physical health, reduce loneliness and improve social connections.

3) Ensure Access to Arts-Based Therapies for Children Facing Trauma and Poverty6

Promote arts-based therapies as a core element of individual school learning plans for children who have experience of trauma, poverty and inequality.

Evidence from Impact Arts’ Primary School Art Therapy programme shows measurable improvements in confidence and self-esteem, resilience and coping strategies.

Younger children often struggle to articulate trauma; creative therapies offer accessible, effective alternatives to traditional counselling.

4) Embed Creative, Flexible and Person-Centred Approaches into Whole Family Wellbeing

Recognise that each family’s experience is unique, and that creative and responsive approaches to needs are highly effective.

Impact Arts’ experience of delivering whole family support demonstrates that a flexible, person-centred, partnership approach achieves the greatest impact on family wellbeing.

5) Support Creative Ageing to Bring Joy to Later Years7

Ensure that all older people, including those living in poverty, have access to creative activities, which reduce isolation and improve wellbeing.

Through academic research, Craft Café has demonstrated the health and social benefits of long term, regular engagement in creative activity and group projects for older people both in community and care home settings.

LIFE CHANCES

6) Increase Access to Quality Arts-Based Education & Employment Programmes89

Increase availability of creative service delivery and innovative approaches to educational attainment and employability.

Creative methodologies are successful in engaging people and communities who are racialised and marginalised, especially where other interventions have failed.

Creative engagement is effective in giving people a voice and encouraging self-expression, delivered out with traditional classroom settings and through practical hands-on learning techniques.

7) Support Neurodiverse Young People Through Quality Arts & Creativity Projects1011

Champion the impact of quality arts-based projects in supporting neurodiverse young people. Quality creative arts based projects can significantly improve emotional regulation, concentration, confidence, and social connection for autistic and ADHD young people.

Impact Arts’ creative youth projects demonstrate that neurodiverse young people who struggle in traditional learning environments engage more consistently and are better able to express themselves and to communicate their thoughts and ideas.

8) Promote Creative Home-Making as Key to Sustaining Tenancies & Preventing Homelessness12

Prioritise engagement of new tenants in creative home making projects to sustain tenancies and prevent homelessness.

Evidence from Impact Arts’ Make It Your Own model demonstrates that creative home-making empowers tenants and supports tenancy sustainment through creative personalisation of homes, helping to prevent homelessness.

CONNECTED COMMUNITIES

9) Celebrate Creative Placemaking13

Prioritise arts in regeneration strategies, recognising it as the catalyst for enlivening our towns and communities.

Creativity is a powerful methodology for engaging diverse communities and under heard voices, bringing communities together, and instigating future community regeneration projects.

Impact Arts urges Scotland’s leaders to embed creativity across public policy. By investing in arts-based and creative approaches, we can build a more inclusive, stronger, and imaginative society.

“This manifesto sets out a clear vision for a Scotland where creativity is recognised as essential to tackling inequality and poverty. It reflects the voices and experiences of the people and communities we work with every day who too often feel left behind. For decades, Impact Arts has seen first hand how arts-based approaches transform their lives through improving wellbeing, strengthening communities, and developing life chances. Ahead of the 2026 Scottish elections, we urge decision makers to recognise the arts as a vital part of building a fairer, healthier, and more connected Scotland.” – Fiona Doring, CEO of Impact Arts

Impact Arts is a community arts charity based in Scotland. Since 1994, we’ve been delivering creative arts and support programmes for children, young people, adults, families, and older people who are facing disadvantages or barriers to progress in life. Our mission is to tackle inequalities, address poverty, and transform lives through art and creativity.  

References

  1. CultureAct — Culture Counts Culture Counts call upon all political parties to support a Culture Act in the next Scottish Parliament  ↩︎
  2. ARTS CULTURE HEALTH WELLBEING SCOTLAND ↩︎
  3. VHS Manifesto for Health Creation Promoting a prevention centred health system ↩︎
  4. Professor Daisy Fancourt speaks at the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Creative Health – SBRG ↩︎
  5. Arts, creative health and wellbeing – National Academy for Social Prescribing | NASP ↩︎
  6. 145afa_187b60c269f4497fbe1af42447ec67a9.pdf A wider range of services, open to all children and young people, including appropriate non-clinical supports. ↩︎
  7. Social isolation and loneliness: Recovering our Connections 2023 to 2026 – gov.scot ↩︎
  8. Creative | My World of Work ↩︎
  9. No One Left Behind: employability strategic plan 2024 to 2027 – gov.scot provides flexible and person-centred support. ↩︎
  10. Advocacy Framework — Children’s and Youth Arts Advocacy ↩︎
  11. Seizing The Moment | Scottish Autism Improve support for autistic learners and an end to informal exclusions in education. ↩︎
  12. Manifesto-30102525.pdf Everyone Home Collective, Housing Justice Lack of prevention focus to be tackled. ↩︎
  13. SURF-2026-Manifesto-Phase-One-Research.pdf  Sustainable funding and removing invisible barriers. ↩︎