Next Us – Elevating creative pathways for Lambeth’s youth
ELEVATE is Lambeth’s mission to open up the creative and digital sectors to all children and young people in the borough. By working with education providers, community groups and creative and cultural organisations, we have been fortunate to offer more than 5000 opportunities to children and young people since ELEVATE’s inception.
This year ELEVATE partnered with Lambeth Made to take on the task of delivering the part-funded GLA/UKSPF-funded programme: Next Us
Next Us aims to help 120 Lambeth residents aged 16 to 24 and not in education, employment or training, access the creative and digital sectors. With the support of two Creative Link Workers, young people who joined the Next Us programme have been connected to ELEVATE’s pre-employment creative bootcamps, 6 month internships, and 20 hour work experience placements paid at London living wage.
They have also been able to access functional skills training for English and maths, as well as access to Lambeth Made initiatives such as Create Your Future and their entrepreneurs programme. Next Us aims to remove barriers to access, and with finances being a key factor for a lot of young people, we also offer a support fund to help those where finances may be preventing them from participating.
Creative Link Workers – Jenavi and Jaffrin – offer 1 to 1 support to all young people who join the Next Us programme. From supporting them with their CVs to helping them to prepare for interviews, they are a constant support system for the participants along their journey. They also receive peer support from the Elevators – our Youth Steering Group – who commission, co-design and evaluate ELEVATE.
This year we partnered with three Lambeth based organisations to deliver creative bootcamps for up to 90 young people from the borough. Young people who attended got to learn about Music Marketing (STEP NOW), Marketing (Find Your Feet) and Filmmaking (The Ascension Agency). Those who attended were not only able to gain an insight into different aspects of the sector, but they were also able to build some of the crucial soft skills needed to enter the world of work.
Those who attended the creative bootcamps were supported to apply and offered guaranteed interviews for the ELEVATE-funded 6-month internships and 20-hour work placements. This year we will be offering 15 paid work experience placements and 17 internships to young people who aspire to work within the sector. Thanks to our community partners we have offered young people opportunities in roles such as Production Assistants, Community and Culture placements, Podcast Production and more. As we enter the new year, we look forward to welcoming young people into their roles and seeing their growth and progress.
There is still time to join the Next Us programme. If you or someone you know is interested in pursuing a career in the creative and digital sectors, why not sign up?