An upward curve

Supported by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the Esm é e Fairbairn Foundation and the D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust, Curve’s Young Arts Entrepreneurs (YAE) programme enables young people in the Leicester area aged 16 to 26 to develop community arts projects and launch their own businesses. As well as support, training and mentoring, Curve offers up to £1,500 to run each successful project.

YAE was established with two key aims in mind. First, to provide opportunities for young people wishing to work in the creative industries in the face of an increasingly challenging employment market. Second, to support projects which would have a real and demonstrable benefit for local communities.

At the end of Year 2 six businesses are successfully delivering activity in the region

Since its inception the scheme has flourished, creating a real sense that a new and vibrant generation of creative talent is emerging from the region. At the end of Year 2 six businesses are successfully delivering activity in the region, with an estimated seven more on course to be operating fully as social enterprises in the next 12 months. Project areas have included creative movement sessions for the over 55s; drama-based activity on issues around trans-racial adoption, homelessness, transition from primary to secondary school, dyslexia and mental health, and building self-esteem for ex-offenders; spoken word projects; performance projects promoting sexual health; monthly music platform events for young people; street dance workshops and three new theatre companies.

During the year-long project, the YAE participants are challenged and developed through intensive business skills training and a mentoring scheme. These complement the arts projects to ensure that they have a viable, high-quality business model and product. They are supported by local companies through a ten-week programme covering practical business skills such as leadership and management, finance, press and marketing, problem-solving and entrepreneurship. The YAEs also complete the Institute of Leadership and Management qualification in Enterprise and Entrepreneurship.

Thanks to YAE, over the last two years Curve has been able to engage with audiences which traditionally have little or no access to the performing arts, including older people with limited mobility, asylum seekers, homeless people, those experiencing mental health issues, ex-offenders, young people living in remote rural locations and those from some of Leicester’s most economically deprived areas.

Young Arts Entrepreneur Mark Elliott, who runs ‘Get Music’, teaching guitar in local schools and at a community centre, says: “I have noticed a positive effect on the community not only in a musical sense. The project has helped make the centre a meeting place for all ages, bringing them together to do something creative.” Likewise, Lucina Flood and Rebecca Hooper, who run The Spect-actors drama project have received excellent feedback from both teachers and participants: “It helps to really stimulate the imagination” and “I have learned so much and will use the techniques in my everyday teaching!”

Curve is also investigating what the legacy of the project might be, not just in the immediate local area but also possibly as a template for nationwide activity. Tim Ford, Curve’s Associate Director says: “There is a phenomenal amount of creative talent in Leicester and the surrounding region. Supporting and developing new local artists is integral to the work we do at Curve, and we are keen to look at ways of extending the model so that it can continue to benefit young artists and communities, while also creating opportunities for arts organisations across the country.’

Jessica Warrington, who through the support of Curve’s YAE project set up a new dance company, J3 Dance, and is now working full time with her business sums up her experiences: “I have really felt that Curve YAE has opened up so many opportunities and networks within the city and county for me as an up-and-coming new dance practitioner. It's a project that allows your ideas to become reality.”

One thing is for certain: that these enthusiastic and dedicated young people are well on their way to becoming the key arts industry figures of the future. So remember where you heard about them first…

Alison Moore, Curve Young Arts Entrepreneurs