Elevate

Hi, I’m Andria. I’m currently an Elevator through Lambeth’s ELEVATE programme, which supports young people interested in the creative industries and allows us to give back to the community. 

As an Elevator, I’ve been involved in a range of cultural projects such which has involved me organising and coordinating events, commissioning creative work, evaluations, engaging with young people, hosting sessions, and liaising with professionals, councillors and others across the Council. 

I joined ELEVATE to gain hands-on experience, build connections, and play a part in shaping culture and creativity in my community. 

Passionate about the world of performing arts, I aspire to work in theatre, particularly in stage management, where I can support creative work behind the scenes. 

Hi my name is Antony and I was introduced to ELEVATE when I decided to say “yes” to an opportunity that I didn’t know much about and since then I have had the chance to expand my creative experiences, meet new people and create opportunities for young people in the borough I call home.

I am passionate and driven to make a change for the young people in the borough, and I do this by ensuring I bring real world experiences into the rooms, whether decisions are being made. I use my platform to represent voices that are often unheard, and I strive to ensure the opportunities created meet the interests of the young people less likely to say “yes” to the unknown. Since working as an Elevator,

I now work as a youth mentor, which allows me to focus on empowering youth to make strong choices, build confidence, and overcome life’s challenges with resilience, purpose, and intention. 

Hi, I’m Emmanuel Dohou. I’m 21 years old and grew up in South London. my journey hasn’t always followed a straight line, but every twist and turn has brought me closer to discovering who I really am and what I’m passionate about. In 2020, I started my course to Digital Media. For the first time, I felt a genuine spark of excitement about what I was learning. I was introduced to the world of graphic design, and it felt like I had finally found my interest and found a way to express my ideas visually, creatively, and with impact. 

Looking ahead, one of my biggest goals is to become a professional graphic designer. I’d love to either work with a creative company where I can learn, grow, and be part of a team—or maybe even build my own brand one day. Either way, I just want to keep creating, keep getting better, and turn this passion into something real. I know it’ll take time and effort, but I’m ready for the journey. 

I’m Jacob “Izrael” Appiah, known as Izzy — a musician, sound recordist, and photographer passionate about using creativity to drive social change.

I started out at 20 as a director at youth-led creative agency YCUK, working with clients like Lambeth Council, BlackSeedVC, Local Globe, and The Roundhouse. Since then, I’ve photographed frontline care workers during the Covid pandemic, documented Dr. Julius Garvey’s visit to Brixton, and served as the Mayor of Lambeth’s photographer during the 2021 Jubilee celebrations.

At 24, I managed projects for one of Idris Elba’s companies, blending creativity with project management and community impact. Now 25, my focus has returned to the music scene while continuing to work across the creative industries.

I’m an artist based in South London, I paint semi-realistic portraits reflecting my experiences and social justice issues. My works explore the different aspects of identity, with focuses on race, gender and sexuality.

I’m interested in the intersectionality and connections between different struggles and identities. My paintings are mostly figurative, with a few explorations into landscape and abstract art. 

I’m Jéssica, a multidisciplinary creative with experience in directing, writing, and marketing. My ELEVATE journey began as a Marketing & Sales Assistant Intern at VAULT Creative Arts, and just months later, I stepped into the Elevator role.

Since then, I’ve facilitated evaluation workshops for interns at Arts 4 Space and Find Your Feet, and taken on creative assignments including sound recording for Orchitecture and videography for the Nighttime Strategy.

I also worked with fellow Elevators on the branding of the Next Us programme, among other projects.

Being an Elevator has been a major turning point in my career, helping shape policies for the borough, and the future of like-minded creatives has been inspiring. It’s boosted my confidence and given me the space to grow through community, mentorship, and ongoing support.

Hey there! My name is Skye, 22 years old born and raised in South London, Lambeth. Growing up in South London I found myself exposed to creativity, community and culture. As I’ve grown older, I’ve found my expression lies within creativity, finding ways to tell stories or self-reflect through multiple mediums such as painting, sewing and journaling.  

My mission is to advocate for my community, to speak up for those who are yet to find their voice and just be an example, a peer and a friend to those who need it the most. I want to improve awareness and support for those who face challenges with mental health, those who are neurodivergent and/or from underprivileged communities. I’ve started my mission with ELEVATE to be a part of this growth.  

I enjoy working in a team where I feel valued and heard as a person. Getting to work with a range of different people and being there to provide assistance, whether that be through mentorship, evaluation or facilitating has been very fulfilling for me, and it’s something I plan to continuously work on.  

I’m Shakyrah, a mixed media practitioner with six years’ experience facilitating workshops in photography, videography, spoken word, script writing, acting and more. Passionate about visual storytelling, I aim to show people they already have the tools to tell and creatively present their own stories.

As someone who calls Lambeth home, I’d love to see students introduced to the possibilities of higher education earlier, not only to help them get the most from their degrees but also to guide them through the steps to maximise their university experience. I’m also an advocate for financial literacy programmes that support young people, low-income families and disadvantaged communities. Equally, I want to see more pathways into the creative sector, helping young people turn passions and hobbies into skills and careers. Above all, I believe the youth voice should be centred and heard clearly across the borough.

What I enjoy most about being an Elevator is the chance to learn together in our masterclasses, whether it’s on contracting, safeguarding, or financial support, while building strong relationships with my team.

The Creative Youth Enterprise programme is an initiative that provides young people with the tools and expertise to navigate the creative sector as freelancers.  

As ‘Elevators’, they help us to steer ELEVATE, gaining paid work experience in community engagement, hosting, facilitation, commissioning and evaluation. They also attend monthly masterclasses on registering as self-employed, managing finance, understanding contracts, wellbeing, portfolio development and more.
Through the Creative Youth Enterprise programme, young people build their confidence, networking, business and leadership skills and explore ways they can generate an income as freelance creatives within the sector. 

ELEVATE’s structured creative pathways initiatives aim to meet the needs of young people who face barriers to opportunities and employment in the creative industries – from careers insights and skills development to recruitment, employment and in work progression.

Alongside this, our Next Us programme funds wraparound employment support to young people going through ELEVATE’s model of bootcamps, paid placements and internships.

Bootcamps are designed to develop a range of pre-employment skills for young people while working in a team towards a creative brief. Over the course of the bootcamp, they are supported to develop the confidence, skills and networks to move into further education, employment or training.

From visits and masterclasses from industry professionals to support with developing CVs and/or portfolios, and professional communication, the Creative Bootcamp offers an exciting opportunity to learn more about an area of interest or to be introduced to something completely new.

This is an opportunity to join a creative/digital organisation for the day to gain an insight into careers and opportunities available within the creative sub-sectors through insight sessions with industry professionals and the opportunity to get first-hand experience working on a creative project.

Part-time internships give young people the opportunity to join a creative or cultural organisation for 6 months, where they can work alongside industry professionals and pursue a creative area of interest.

From roles in digital marketing and content creation to podcasting and producing, young people will get the opportunity to work with a variety of organisations and learn new skills to kickstart their creative and/or digital careers.

20-hour work experience placements allow young people to get a taste of what it’s like to work in the Creative and/or Digital sector with one of our partner organisations without having to commit to a long period of time. From galleries and gaming to dance and design companies, young people will explore an area of work they may not have previously considered.

Our immersive creative careers programme is for Careers Leads, students and teachers and aims to broadens awareness of the wide range of roles in the creative economy, including non-creative roles within creative industries, as well as creative roles across other sectors such as health, education, retail and tech. These roles are often invisible to young people but are essential to innovation and growth.

ELEVATE aims to enhance children and young people’s access to culture and grow the role of creativity in education, both inside and outside the classroom. Through ELEVATE’s Local Cultural Education Partnership, we connect educators to professional development opportunities and young people to creative pathways.

We work with education and cultural partners to champion the role of Expressive Arts in the curriculum. These subjects are valuable in their own right and support learning across the board. This work aims to close the arts entitlement gap and ensure that every young person in Lambeth has the opportunity to thrive through creativity.

Sign up here for the ELEVATE school newsletter, offering a monthly creative opportunities roundup, and Cultural Connections meetings bringing together Educators and Cultural Professionals/organisations to share best practice and access creative CPD.