Last night, Create’s work with young carers was recognised with a prestigious Children & Young People Now Highly Commended award. We were selected – along with category winner Carers in Hertfordshire (congratulations!) from a shortlist of five amazing organisations, and we are delighted to see our work with young carers recognised in this way.
Our Director of Programmes, Kristian Sakulku and I attended the ceremony, an evening that celebrates the work of those working with children, young people and families across the UK. At a time of huge societal challenge, it was so good for our sector to be able to let our hair down for an evening. The event’s celebratory tone was set from the start with a vibrant performance by South London Samba which received rapturous applause. Kristian and I were delighted to see the arts front and centre and the young performers were amazing! The evening was compered by actress, author and former CBeebies presenter, Cerrie Burnell.
The Children & Young People Now Awards have become the gold standard for everyone working with children, young people and families. Now in their 18th year, these awards are a great source of pride and recognition for all those who strive to improve the lives of others. They raise the profile of projects and initiatives to funders and the general public, and showcase learning and best practice from across the country. Crucially, entrants must be able to provide evidence that what they have done has had a positive impact on young lives. There were more than 500 entries, from which 117 were shortlisted for the 24 awards.
SO WHAT DID WE WIN?
The Young Carers Award for ‘the initiative that has done the most to support children, young people or young adults up to 25 who care for a family member or friend with an illness, disability, mental health problem or addition.’
We were Highly Commended for inspired:arts, the collective name used within the application for our extensive family of young carer programmes: inspired:arts, art:space, change:matters, community:matters and creative:me, that give young carers a break from their caring responsibilities and enable them to develop new skills and peer support.
To have been recognised for our work with young carers (one of seven strands of our work across the UK that uses the creative arts to empower the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable children and adults), amongst so many other outstanding organisations and individuals, is a real privilege. Knowing that we were selected not only by a panel of 18 adult judges but also by a panel of 10 young judges – placing young people at the centre of the process – was particularly meaningful.
People Need To Create and we are deeply committed to raising awareness of the empowering qualities of engaging in the creative arts. To have been acknowledged with this Children and Young People Now Highly Commended award is a wonderful recognition of the deep commitment to our work with young carers shown by our funders, our dedicated staff team and the inspirational professional artists who deliver our programmes.
To read about our work with young carers, click here.
Nicky Goulder, Founding Chief Executive
