WHO WE WORK WITH

WHO WE WORK WITH

At Create, we believe everyone should have access to the transformative power of the creative arts. Our inclusive creative arts programmes support children and adults facing challenges in their lives, helping to reduce isolation, build confidence, develop skills and enhance wellbeing.

“It’s very meaningful to have the freedom to express myself. This project has been like much-needed therapy.”

Kara (60+)

Our focus is on engaging the UK’s most marginalised people in inspiring, sustainable arts programmes in areas where provision is poor and engagement in the arts is therefore low.

We select these using poverty indices and government statistics on areas of deprivation alongside data including: disability; pupil premium/entitlement to free school meals; and use of English as an additional language.

We prioritise our work with:

• Children in care and care leavers
• Disabled children and adults
• Schoolchildren in areas of deprivation
• Vulnerable older people
• Young and adult carers
• Young and adult prisoners
• Young psychiatric hospital patients
• Other marginalised children and adults

“When you’re a carer, you can lose a sense of yourself. You spend all your time looking after someone else. Projects like these help you understand more about yourself.”

Latisha (15)

How Creative Arts Support Wellbeing and Connection

Creativity can provide opportunities for self-expression, social connection and personal development. Through music, dance, drama, visual arts and other artforms, Create’s projects give participants opportunities to explore their creativity, develop new skills and connect with others.

Our programmes are designed to respond to the different needs and experiences of the people we work with, helping to make the benefits of creativity more accessible.

Diversity and Inclusion

While working against the unjust differences created by social exclusion, we embrace the fact that our society includes rich differences in culture, belief and social identity. We welcome this kind of diversity in all our projects, and we design many of them specifically to reinforce and celebrate it, for example:

– supporting people from disadvantaged backgrounds to find imaginative ways of representing or expressing their experiences, perspectives that are often marginalised by mainstream society and in mainstream arts activities;

– encouraging people from different social groups to communicate and collaborate with each other; and

– whenever possible, responding to or incorporating artistic traditions from minority ethnic and other cultures.

Click to read about our projects with:

Children in care and care leavers

Giving children in care and care leavers the opportunity to explore their creativity and develop social skills and resilience

Disabled children and adults

Create is committed to improving access for disabled people to high-quality creative arts activities

Young psychiatric hospital patients

Create works with young people living with mental illnesses, giving them access to transformative art projects

Young and adult carers

Create works extensively with children and adults across the UK who provide unpaid care for their loved ones

Vulnerable older people

Create is committed to tackling the “three plagues” of old age: loneliness, helplessness and boredom

Young and adult prisoners

Creative arts activities can help prisoners learn new skills, express themselves, boost their confidence, and build and improve family connections

Schoolchildren in areas of deprivation

Create works closely with schools in areas of deprivation to provide high-quality creative arts projects that meet children’s specific needs

Other marginalised children and adults

Create also works with homeless people, and those living with mental ill health or emotional issues