Building networks – joining the dots – supporting creative collaborations
Funded by the Department of Education and Youth, the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport, and the Department of Children, Disability and Equality, Local Creative Youth Partnerships are a Creative Youth initiative hosted by Education and Training Boards (ETB’s) to ensure that seldom heard children and young people aged 0-24 have practical participatory opportunities to express themselves creatively in out of school, community settings.
At their core, Local Creative Youth Partnerships are networks which enable information sharing and collaboration with the local host ETB, local authorities, the non-formal education sector, family support services, early learning and childcare and youthwork services – and an opportunity to forge new partnerships and relationships with the local creative sector.
They bring about better use of existing resources, and youth-centred practices to co-create sustainable, creative opportunities in an ETB area. They work locally to reach children and young people who are at a disadvantage or marginalised from accessing creative opportunities.
Key to the objectives of Local Creative Youth Partnerships is: Collaborating to develop creative initiatives; targeting ‘Seldom Heard’ groups of children and young people more effectively; growing confidence and elevating youth voices; and removing barriers to access where possible.
Guided by Ireland’s National Framework for Children and Young People’s Participation in Decision-making, with support from Hub na nÓg, Local Creative Youth Partnership Coordinators work with large groups of stakeholders from community development, youth work, and creative backgrounds. They do this in a way that ensures that young people themselves are at the heart of developing and implementing opportunities to engage with creative activities.
The remit extends beyond the traditional arts to encompass cultural and creative activity from everywhere. The range of activities is limitless – everything from traditional and visual arts to coding and tech; music and opera to circus arts, comedy, street arts & spectacle; architecture & design to heritage; film, drama, theatre or dance to literature and creative writing.
