Impact Arts

What will our futures look like? What if we could travel into the future to examine our own successes?

Young people on Creative Pathways in North Ayrshire have been examining this topic during weeks three and four of a 10-week block of our arts and employability programme.

The group have been working with artists Christine and Ruth, discussing utopian and dystopian futures, composing a “message to the future”, time travelling to their ultimate personal future and bringing back their evidence of their future successes.

The group have also been experimenting with materials and produced their first live project for a public event, taking place in Irvine’s Eglinton Country Park.

They were asked to transform hundreds of recycled milk cartons into lanterns for a guided storytelling walk. They created prototypes which they then pitched to each other. As a group, they decided to use a flower design, and worked together to meticulously cut out and assemble petals. The final piece was hung between trees, with lights woven through the design.

In other workshops, the team have been building and drawing abstract architectural still-life pieces, which is helping to develop their drawing skills. After gathering objects on a walk around the local area, they monoprinted their objects onto black fabric.

Week four of the project ended in an introduction to casting plaster, creating sculptural objects using sand moulds. This work will be developed further in coming weeks, exploring casting and printmaking in various applications.

As well as passing on a huge range of creative arts skills, the Creative Pathways course is about passing on skills that will help the group when looking for spaces in work and education.

Funded by Skills Development Scotland’s Employability Fund, they are working towards completing their SQA Employability Award and Steps to Work Awards. This involves them discussing their qualities, figuring out what they would most like to do in the future, and completing sessions on job searching, CV skills and mock interviews.

We still have a handful of spaces left on this programme, which is running 60 Bank Street in Irvine from Tuesday – Friday until mid December. It’s open to 16 and 17 year olds in North Ayrshire who are not currently in work, education or training. Participants receive a £55 training weekly training allowance plus necessary travel expenses.

If you are interested in signing up or making a referral, please contact Impact Arts’ Jamie Proudfoot on 0141 575 3001 or email[email protected].