Enhancing employability

Entering employment in the arts sector can be challenging for young people as sometimes there are only a few paid entry jobs or limited support for emerging artists. The Arts Award Youth Network, a team of young people who act as ambassadors for Arts Award, the national qualification in the arts for anyone under the age of 25, aims to prepare young people by offering training, work experience and confidence in networking – all important for employability.

The Youth Network and Arts Award Voice, our online magazine, grew out of a long-standing desire to connect young people more closely with the Arts Award programme. As an Arts Award alumnus and huge fan myself (I did bronze, silver and gold awards), I was delighted to get the chance to develop the Youth Network in 2011. Any young person interested in the arts can join it by registering on Arts Award Voice, but at its heart is a team of 15 Youth Network leaders (YNLs) aged 16 to 25. Arts Award has helped these young people develop a range of artistic talents and they have become committed arts ambassadors and leaders. The programme we deliver together has three key strands:

• Make Arts Award massive: By speaking at conferences, running stands at events and online promotion. This motto for our ambassador work was invented by one of the founder members of the network.
• Arts Award Exchange: Run networking events that support young people taking part in Arts Award to share ideas and skills.
• Arts Award Voice: Our magazine website for young people doing their Arts Award.

Each strand helps to build the skills of the team and develop employable young arts leaders who know ‘the business of the arts’. It is vital to be able to promote yourself, your organisation or your projects. Knowing how to communicate with stakeholders, be they peers, professionals, decision-makers or your own team, is vital. Such a skill may not be nurtured through traditional schooling and requires genuine opportunities which expose young people to a range of audiences for them to gain the practice needed. Having a head start and excelling at interpersonal skills is highly valued by employers.

Knowing how to communicate with stakeholders, be they peers, professionals, decision-makers or your own team is vital

Networking is key in the arts where movement between jobs and organisations is always likely, and many people work freelance. Our team gets the chance to represent Arts Award at events, learning how to make connections and follow up useful contacts. Most also work with their Arts Council England Bridge Organisation.

Building on the communication skills developed as an ambassador, managing projects or events in a supportive context ensures a comfortable learning curve. As in all Arts Award activities, the important aspect is that it is ‘real’ – a real venue, real participants, real team members and a real budget to allocate. A great example is our Arts Award Exchange event at the Roundhouse London, which brought together young people from four Arts Award centres to take part in consultation, workshops and an ‘open mic’ arts sharing.

For the past 12 months, the team has worked on Arts Award Voice. They reflect on their arts experiences in blogs, review events and other art, do interviews with artists, write how-to guides for peers and explore the world of the arts through our features section. Arts Award Voice offers lots of ideas and inspiration to encourage young people to get more involved in the arts, do their Arts Award and become arts leaders themselves. It now sits at the heart of the Youth Network as it enables us to reach so many more young people.

Voice employs a content editor and three paid sub-editors who are members of the Youth Network Leaders team. This offers young people interested in journalism some professional development and a chance to co-ordinate the wider team of volunteer contributors. The team sets monthly themes (October was Halloween and November is comedy) which also helps to broaden their arts experiences and interests. Being active Youth Network Leaders gives a physical reality to the editorial work, so they are not just typing at their computes in a silo!

The year starts with a summer training event, two and half days of workshops and activities which took place this year at the new social enterprise Unit Twenty Three, covering facilitation, public speaking, website writing, event and project planning and advocacy skills. Young people usually join the Youth Network Leaders team for two years so the second-year members offer peer support to the new recruits.

Youth Network Leaders also attend three training weekends each year where they develop further specific skills and get the opportunity to plan the agenda for the Youth Network and their own regional activities. Recently we met at York Theatre Royal and incorporated media training from Pilot Theatre. When young people leave the team, they often become Youth Network Associates, continuing to write articles for the website and fulfilling small paid commissions based on the skills they offer.

This practical approach to developing employability is used the world over and is well established with organisations such as Young Enterprise. Young people find the combination of support and practical experience valuable.

Emrys Green is Project Manager for Arts Award Youth Network.
www.artsaward.org.uk

If you would like the team to interview you or feature your project, please contact us at [email protected]