Lila*, 11 years old, has been taking on caring responsibilities since she was 7. She was first referred to the local carers service by Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). Lila cares for her dad who has Asperger’s, ADHD and dyspraxia and her younger brother has recently been diagnosed with ADHD.
“Although I like making sculptures and models, I don’t get the chance to go to art clubs after school because I have to look after my dad and brother.”
Lila
In Nottingham, Lila took part in Create’s workshops for young carers where they made 3D sculptures inspired by the local area. Their sculptures then formed the basis for the design of a large-scale public mural for the local shopping centre, intu Victoria.
“This is the first art project I’ve done with other carers. Although I like making sculptures and models, I don’t get the chance to go to art clubs after school because I have to look after my dad and brother.
“At school I feel much less confident in my own abilities. I always feel like I’m not doing it right. I never thought I was able to draw very well so always felt nervous about even trying. Create makes me feel good about my work and want to share what I’ve done. Before the project started I thought my art would be, on a scale of one to ten, about a two but now – I don’t want to be immodest – I think it would be a seven!
“I’m still a bit nervous about the unveiling of the mural. I’m excited for it to be there but I’m anxious about what people will think. I hoping my family will be really proud because I’ve got a piece of work out there. If I have children and it’s still there, they can see it too. The next thing I would love to do would be to learn how to play the guitar.”
Create supports the UK’s young and adult carers throughout the year with free access to high-quality creative workshops led by professional artists. For Carers Week 2015, we’re introducing you to some of the carers that we’ve worked with and how they’ve benefited from our programmes.
Kimberly* is a young carer from Newham. She has been caring for her mum since she was 8 years old. Kimberly’s mum has mobility problems and depression, but despite the difficulties she has in moving around, she has currently been housed in a flat with 28 steps to the front door. Kimberley has taken part in several Create projects, including inspired:arts in which she has the opportunity to dance on the stage in front of a sell-out audience at Sadler’s Wells.
“I like being creative but I don’t usually have the time. It always feels like I’m being pulled in a million different directions at once.”
Kimberly
“When I get home from school, I often have to start straight away with the cooking because my mum won’t be well enough to do it. Sometimes I’ll have had to carry heavy shopping home by myself. In the evenings, I struggle getting my mum in and out of the bath as she needs help moving around. I’m starting my GCSEs and it’s hard to fit homework around all of these things.
“It doesn’t help that we’re in temporary accommodation either. We’ve had to move six times in nine years so it’s really difficult to settle into an area. I struggle with having friends round because of our situation. All our stuff is packed up ready to move onto the next place at any moment.
“I like being creative but I don’t usually have the time. It always feels like I’m being pulled in a million different directions at once. It felt really good to work with the other young carers to create our own dance. I’m now much more able to try out my ideas in front of a group. I often suffer from a lack of confidence so this opportunity helped a lot.”
Create supports the UK’s young and adult carers throughout the year with free access to high-quality creative workshops led by professional artists. For Carers Week 2015, we’re introducing you to some of the carers that we’ve worked with and how they’ve benefited from our programmes.
Latisha* is a 15-year-old carer from Merton. She was identified as a young carer when she was just 6. Her mum damaged her spine in a road accident and has been in constant pain ever since so she requires help around the house. Latisha is one of many young carers that feels that there is a lack of awareness around the needs of carers and the toll it takes on them. She talks about losing a sense of herself when caring and forgetting who she is inside.
“I liked that Create’s project was all about my imagination. There was no one telling me ‘you have to do this’ or ‘you have to do that’. It gave us freedom.
“I made loads of animations with Create’s artists, one of dinosaurs, one with some moving objects, one with me and my mate doing sign language. I like the sign language animation the best because it’s showcasing my talent and one of my skills as a young carer. Not many young people can do it. I can tell people that I can do sign language but this video proves it.
“I also felt like I got loads done. I find it really difficult to concentrate in school, whereas I feel more relaxed in Create’s sessions. They give me more space to open up and be myself. When we were making the animations, I worked with another young carer, Laura*. I don’t usually work well with other people but this time it felt natural. I think it has something to do with the environment; I’m doing something that I actually enjoy. I wasn’t forced to come here. I came because I wanted to be here.
“Other young carers know how difficult it is. What I miss out on with my friends, I make up for with the young carers on Create’s projects.”
Latisha
“At home I don’t usually have the chance to be creative. I do my chores like cooking and that’s all there is time for. At school I only have one creative subject, Food Tech, and it’s really hard to be creative in it because my teacher is telling me exactly what to do every step of the way. I don’t have any creative hobbies at the minute, apart from baking. I really want to open my own bakery one day called Delightful Desires so every Friday I try to sell my cakes at school. I’ve nearly finished designing the logo.
“I like being creative and would love to go to more galleries and gigs, but being able to get out is the hard thing. On projects like these, the other young carers know what it’s like. When my other friends ask me to come out, I’ll usually say ‘No because I have to look after my mum.’ They eventually stop asking. They don’t really understand.
“Other young carers know how difficult it is. What I miss out on with my friends, I make up for with the young carers on Create’s projects. If I wasn’t a young carer, I wouldn’t have some of the friends I have now, so I’ve got to think about it in positive way. If I wasn’t a young carer, I wouldn’t be doing this animation course. With Create, I’ve been able to do animation, song-writing, photography, sculpture, dancing. I wouldn’t have done any of these things I wasn’t a young carer and didn’t have Create’s support.
“I don’t think the general public are aware of the issues carers face. Some people don’t have a clue. I try to explain it to them but it’s easy for them to move on and forget when it doesn’t affect them. I don’t think they understand how much time we spent caring and how much we miss out on. And the toll it takes on us too. Some of us care for people with disabilities, others with mental illness, which is really hard. Even when you try to explain, you feel people aren’t listening.
“I think projects like these are really important because when you’re a carer, you can lose a sense of yourself. You spend all your time looking after someone else which means that you’re caring more about them and their wellbeing and forget about your own. You can forget who you are inside.”
In February 2015, we were delighted to extend the reach of our art:space project to North East Somerset thanks to funding from British Land.
art:space, one of our cross-arts programmes for young carers, gives young people with caring responsibilities the opportunity to take some time out from their home-life to explore their creative talents with others. Through creative collaborations, the workshops develop the young carers’ confidence, self-esteem and interpersonal skills.
During February half-term, we worked in with young carers from Carers’ Centre Bath and North East Somerset, in collaboration with SouthGate Bath, to produce a short film with a live soundtrack. Brimming with ideas for their mini-movie, the young people worked together to come up with a plot, deciding on an action-based story inspired by video games.
The young carers developed their acting and camera skills with the help of our filmmaker Aoife Twomey, shooting many of their scenes – including an impressive acrobatic fight – on location at SouthGate Bath. They then edited their film with special effects inspired by classic video games including Street Fighter and Super Mario.
Guided by Create’s professional musicians Aga Serugo-Lugo and Alvin Ryan, the young carers then composed a soundtrack for their film, combining styles as diverse as classical music and hip hop. Their film was then screened to a captivated audience at SouthGate Bath, accompanied by their live rendition of the film’s score.
Owen (not his real name) aged 16, is one of the young carers who took part in the project. He cares for his elder brother who is blind and his mother who suffers from depression and chronic pain. Owen first visited BAINES three years ago. Here is his story:
“When I was younger, my mum was a district nurse. She had to leave at five in the morning but always left us a packed lunch each day. My eldest brother has albinism and is registered blind, so I have to guide, cook and clean and do other little bits to help.
“My sister left at 12 because she couldn’t take the home environment; there was a lot of pressure, a lot of tension and anger. My mum developed a back problem when I was about twelve years old. It progressed until a doctor told her she couldn’t work anymore and she now suffers from depression and constant pain. My brother and I were left to go through the teen years alone and it was tough, I have only just realised that. But like everything, my home life has its ups and downs and you have to make the best of what you’ve got.
“My advice to other young carers would be to find a place to go and talk to someone. Don’t be scared. I was nervous at first but I did it. A guy from Carers’ Centre Bath and North East Somerset comes to my house and sends me letters letting me know what’s going on. I know if it gets to the point where I’m feeling low, I just have to phone them up and they’ll be there for me.
“I like to be creative but I don’t often get creative opportunities like this. I can draw at home but if I wanted to go out and record a film, I wouldn’t have access to the equipment and, although I had tried filmmaking before, I didn’t have the opportunity to look at different camera shots or experiment with new techniques like I have done here.
“When we began the project, we all had different ideas but, since we had SouthGate Centre to use as a filming location, we decided on one that was just a group of friends going out to town. With every team there are moments. The difficulty working with other young carers is that we all have something which can cause tension or drama with other people. But I really enjoyed working with such a motivated group of people.
“It was really nice to explore making music because I’ve never had the chance to try it out before. Being in this environment with musicians who are friendly and have a laugh with you really encouraged me to try new things and expand my skills and knowledge.
“Creativity helps me to think positively, just getting on with music and doing something I like doing improves my mind-set. Knowing that you’ve created something gives you a nice feeling. I felt a lot of pride when making the soundtrack; pride and a feeling of accomplishment in saying, ‘Yeah, I did that.’”
CREATE AND PATRON MATTHEW BOURNE GIVE 27 YOUNG PEOPLE A WORLD-CLASS DANCE EXPERIENCE
Twenty-seven young people – and I (!) – have had an incredible start to 2015.
We are privileged to have internationally-acclaimed choreographer & director Matthew Bourne OBE as one of our Patrons and I met with him last year to discuss how we could work together to benefit vulnerable young people. It was an inspiring meeting of minds, from which came our first collaboration, a six day dance residency with his dance charity Re:Bourne at Sadler’s Wells.
This experience has been transformational for 27 young people, one of whom wrote to me:
“After spending the week following my passion and my dream, I am even more sure than ever that I will be a dancer.”
Between 3 and 8 January, 25 young carers drawn from seven London boroughs, four children from Rickmansworth School and two of our dance volunteers worked together as a dance company to devise and rehearse a new dance piece, Our Hands. All the ideas and moves were devised by the young people under the expert direction of Kerry Biggin and Paul Smethurst, professional dancer/choreographers from Matthew’s dance company New Adventures.
I spent a wonderful weekend – so worth cutting short my festive break for – watching the skill and commitment of these incredible leaders as they encouraged the diverse group of young people to get to know one another (most of them had never met before), build trusting relationships and work as a cohesive team (crucial for dance) as the new steps unfurled. Their creativity shone through, friendships blossomed and confidence soared as they developed a six-minute “Curtain Raiser” that inspired, delighted and moved to tears an audience of family members and professional dancers – more than 30 members of New Adventures – at the dress rehearsal on the main stage at Sadler’s Wells on the afternoon of 8 January.
I had the privilege of meeting families as they arrived and one mother – who has given me permission to tell this story – told me about her life and what the week had done for her daughter, Sylvie (not her real name). They had spent the last six Christmases, she said, in hospital with her husband. First he had his leg amputated; then he got terminal cancer; last year he died leaving them bereft. Sylvie, who had provided much of his care – medical assistance, household chores, emotional support – was now failing to cope and had been excluded from a school that did not know how to deal with her challenging behaviour and emotional distress. She and Sylvie had spent this Christmas looking at each other, lost because they didn’t have a father in a hospital to visit.
Then Sylvie started our dance residency. This gave her a chance to express her feelings, explore her creativity, meet other young carers and share experiences. As part of the young dance company, she had to work hard, remain focused and develop physical and emotional resilience. The evening before, I learnt, her mother had gone to Sylvie’s bedroom at 11.30pm to say goodnight and found her standing in front of a full length mirror rehearsing her moves. When I asked Sylvie the overriding thing she would take away from the week, she told me: “If someone gives me an opportunity, take it.”
At 7.30pm on Thursday 8 January, Matthew walked onto the stage at Sadler’s Wells and introduced the Curtain Raiser to the sell-out audience of 1,480 people who were there to see his production of Edward Scissorhands. I told Sylvie’s story and when I took my seat in the auditorium, the woman next to me said I’d made her cry.
The Curtain Raiser was beautiful, moving, dramatic and highly polished. As I sat and watched the young dance company – 27 dancers who just six days before had been 27 expectant young people – I too cried. They were professional; they were together; and the dance told a beautiful story of the power of bringing people together to explore and share dreams. As they came to take their seats for Edward Scissorhands they received rapturous applause … for the second time. After the performance, our young dancers partnered with the New Adventures dancers for a bucket collection, which raised an incredible £2,194.50. For me personally, the single most significant donation was given by one of the young dancers who came up to me at the end, drew a £10 note out of their pocket – literally pocket money – and handed it to me with the words: “This is so you can give other children an opportunity like this”.
If you too would like to give other vulnerable young people opportunities like this, please support us.
CREATE AND ITS YOUNG CARERS ON SKY NEWS, ITV AND AT KPMG
We’ve worked with more than 350 young carers during 2014 and are celebrating the achievements of the 200 from London with a month-long exhibition at KPMG’s headquarters in Canary Wharf, a story that both Sky News and ITV have covered.
My City ~ My Life showcases artwork by young carers that explores their identities and experiences within the urban environment. Carers from Kingston, Redbridge and Southwark worked with our professional photographers Alicia Clarke, Tracey Fahy and Adele Watts over the summer in intensive workshops that enabled them to create a portfolio of stunning, thought-provoking photographs.
Alongside the photographs is a series of sculptures produced by young carers from Merton. Working with our artist Sheridan Quigley, they painted different sides of their personality onto cardboard cut-outs which then slot together to make a 3D piece of work.
Additionally, mini-films are being shown around the KPMG foyer, whilst their longer features were showcased at our exclusive preview last week, which was attended by more than 30 young carers and family members. These are also available to view over on our YouTube site.
There are around 700,000 young carers in the UK, of whom almost 21% spend more than 50 hours a week caring for a family member with a long-term illness or disability. They regularly miss school and can face challenges when they do attend classes, 25% being bullied. Our art:space and inspired:arts programmes work with these vulnerable young people to enable them to take a break from their caring responsibilities, meet peers in a safe, friendly environment, and most importantly, have fun!
CREATE’S CEO AND NOTTINGHAM YOUNG CARER APPEAR ON BBC TV
“In November 2014, I went to Nottingham to visit a project we’re running in partnership with Action for Young Carers and intu Victoria Centre. There are an estimated 700,000 young carers in the UK, children who can spend up to 50 hours a week caring for a loved one. 27% of those aged 11-15 miss school regularly and a horrifying 68% suffer bullying and isolation due to their caring roles.
“To help address some of these issues for a group of 30 young carers aged 5-18 in Nottingham, we designed a half-term project that gave them the chance to get creative with our professional artist Viyki Turnbull! Over five days, they devised a series of “Playful Cityscapes” that re-imagined the city, making new friends, learning creative art techniques and having fun “me time” away from their caring responsibilities.
“My visit yesterday was a lot of fun for me too! I worked as part of a “paint-up” team of volunteers from intu Victoria Centre and Laing O’Rourke, recreating the children’s work on a large scale. The twenty panels will be erected at the shopping centre in February next year as part of its current refurbishment plan. Chatting to one of the volunteers, she told me how much she’d enjoyed working with the children last week – “they were so much fun but I couldn’t believe how much responsibility they have at home!” – and how relaxing she was finding the painting up today. I thought so too! Working to recreate faithfully the children’s imaginative, vibrant artwork certainly took concentration and a steady hand!
“And what of the young carers? An 11 year old came to see how we were getting on – she LOVED seeing her house and castle painted up on a big scale – and to talk to the BBC about what the project meant to her. Our interview, which includes a behind-the-scenes peek at the mural paint-up, was broadcast on BBC East Midlands Today this morning.”
UXBRIDGE YOUNG CARERS IMAGINE THEIR OWN WORLDS IN MURAL PROJECT
In July 2014, we were working with Hillingdon Carers in Uxbridge, combining creative writing and visual arts in a mural project as part of our extensive inspired:arts programme for young carers.
Under the guidance of published author Carol Topolski, 16 young carers started by creating their own original story based on “Through the Wardrobe – Imagined Worlds”, a theme we chose to fire their imaginations. The theme – linking with the recent intu Uxbridge Get into Reading Campaign – draws on CS Lewis’s popular Narnia escapades, encouraging children to read and create their own stories.
For some young carers, dreaming of other worlds may provide welcome “downtime”: 27% of young carers aged 11-15 miss school regularly and 68% suffer bullying and isolation due to their caring roles. They worked in pairs, supported by 11 volunteers from intu Uxbridge and Intu Properties plc, to create pivotal characters in the story and visited outdoor spaces for inspiration to imagine a new world.
Once the final story was penned as a group, the young people worked with painter/sculptor Sheridan Quigley to visualise their ideas for a full-sized mural! With further volunteer support from intu, the final six metre piece was painted by hand on site at intu Uxbridge over two days in August.
One young carer described his experience at the end of the project:
“I feel more confident in my artwork now I’ve done this project. It helps to have a professional who you can learn from. We all worked together, listened to each other’s ideas and have made new friends. I think the mural will make a big difference to the community, perhaps contributing to stopping anti-social behavior by giving people something to talk about”.
See below for the final story concept which inspired the mural.
The Portals of The Shadow Tribe
The Lost Shadows are miserable. They’re happy enough perched in Shadowlands’ jungly trees but are missing one vital thing – a person to be attached to. After months and months of moaning and groaning they decide to do something to remedy this and create three beautiful portals: one into Astria, the second into Flipside and the third into Dandilaisydill.
Prince Sebastian lives in Astria. He’s really rather gorgeous, with his long blond hair and emerald eyes and, while he has an Aston Martin, prefers to get around on his gryphon made of fire, which impresses his subjects no end. He can’t be doing with the prince thing since he’d much rather be a hunter, so he buys a necklace from which to hang his trophies; but because he’s hopeless at killing things it hangs round his neck empty. He’s pretty hopeless at swordplay too – has to wear padded shoes because he keeps dropping the sword on his feet – so he practices every day, thinking maybe he’ll pick up some skills.
One sunny Thursday, he’s slashing away in the palace garden when he spots a triangle shape in a bush. He makes a pass and a thrust and stabs the sword through its middle, but trips over his padded shoes and falls through.
‘Woo hoo!’ say the Lost Shadows, ‘Our first!’ and the teleporter whizzes and hums. Sebastian finds himself banged up in a prison that’s made of shadow flames.
‘One down – two more to go!’ say the Shadows and go to lurk by the portal into Flipside.
Boris the Beavcoon lives there, in a land that would make you and me queasy. Everything is upside down, so the locals walk on the sky and look up to the grass but they live a very jolly life together. Boris is a bit of a geezer, and like all the other inhabitants has the head of a beaver and the body of a raccoon, but one of his front teeth is gold with a diamond winking in the middle. He likes nothing better than to create a bit of mayhem, but he always clears up after he’s made it. If he eats penguins he turns into a flying, super-dooper steel version of himself, but should he happen to eat a taco, his powers disappear.
Naturally he avoids tacos.
He’s playing hide and seek one day with friends and comes across this random door propped up against a wall.
‘Perfect!’ he says to himself and squeeeeeeeezes his burly body behind it. Unfortunately for him it’s the second portal and with a whizz and a hum, he’s in the shadow prison too.
‘Clever old us!’ say the Lost Shadows, rubbing their shadow paws, ‘Just one more to go and we’re sorted!’
In Dandilaisydill, Jessica is much given to granting wishes. Just one per person – mustn’t be greedy – and when she’s doing her job she’s dressed like a standard fairy with sparkly wings and tutu and a wand like a leaf she bought in Poundland. Actually, it’s just for show because the real magic’s in her head, but it convinces the punters, so she waves it around wildly when she’s granting things. At the end of a busy day, she retreats to her 50 room mansion at the top of a tree and likes nothing better than to party. She slips on her black leather jacket, her hip hop silk trousers and a snapback with Fairy Posse on the front – the tutu stays – and boogies under the disco ball, drinking cocktails all night.
She’s a keen gardener and one day when she’s fluttering around, spots some flowers with perky little faces. She zooms in to have a closer look and, schlurp! She’s sucked though the portal and into the prison.
Result!’ snicker the Lost Shadows and sneak over to the jail to gloat.
‘Hey!’ says Sebastian as Jessica lands on his head, ‘Who the deuce are you?’
‘I might ask you the same thing,’ says the fairy, ‘How did we end up here?’
‘Wassup?’ says Boris, ‘Like, this is waaaay uncool! We gotta get out of this place, man – this is seriously cramping my style.’
‘Oh Lord!’ says Sebastian, ‘Where’s Mummy and Daddy when you need them most? Somebody needs to think of a plan. I’m far too posh to do thinking, so you, weirdo, get your act together and get us out, will you?’
‘Watch this!’ says Boris and runs at the bars. ‘Ouch!’
‘Oh no!’ says Jessica, ‘Your nose is on fire!’ and she smothers the flames with her wings.
‘Got any penguins, dude?’ says Boris. ‘One of those and I’ll bust us out – no problem, know what I’m saying?’
‘Ah,’ says Jessica, ‘But they only seem to eat tacos here.’ Boris shrinks away into a corner.
‘But with my princely powers of observation, I notice you happen to be a fairy,’ says Sebastian.
‘Can you do a spot of magic to get us out? All that abracadabra whizzy stuff?’
‘Just one wish each,’ says Jessica.
‘Penguins!’ says Boris, ‘Gimme penguins!’ and the leaf wand waves over his head. But there’s been a slight misunderstanding. A huge pile of chocolate biscuits sits in front of the Beavcoon’s snout and, hungry though he is, it’s not going to turn him into steel.
‘Idiot!’ says Sebastian, ‘Get me out of here, fairy! Destination Astria, if you please.’ There’s a bang and a snap and a fair sprinkling of sparkles and Sebastian’s back on home ground.
He stands at the portal and observes. There are the Lost Shadows, prowling round the prison, shape-shifting and licking their lips. Any moment now, the captives are doomed, but Shadowland is suddenly plunged into darkness. For one hour a day the light disappears and of course the locals disappear too. (Being shadows and everything, they would).
Summoning his fiery gryphon, Sebastian rides to the rescue. The gryphon gobbles up the prison’s bars of flame and Boris and Jessica jump on its back.
‘Phew! Party time!’ says Jessica. ‘Everybody back to mine!’ and they swoop through the portal to Dandilaisydill and boogie the night away in her mansion. Many cocktails are consumed by them all.
CARERS GETTING INSPIRED IN SERIES OF SONG WRITING AND JEWELLERY WORKSHOPS
In April 2014, young carers in Kingston took part in songwriting and jewellery workshops, meeting new people, learning new skills and having fun through inspired:arts!
Between 8-10 April, the participants devised songs and melodies based around the theme of identity. They had previously taken part in songwriting workshops and used these lyrics as the starting point for their music. They were even introduced to the ‘Makey Makey’ – a way of turning everyday objects into computer keys, which enabled them to create sounds by touching objects such as bananas – just like a piano! The project ended with a performance to families, friends and the Mayor of Kingston Penny Shelton and Mayoress Hilary Saw.
There are almost 250,000 children in England and Wales caring for a relative. 27% of them aged 11-15 will miss school and an overwhelming 68% experience bullying and isolation. We designed inspired:arts thanks to a grant from The Queen’s Trust to help young carers develop trust, social skills and supportive relationships, enhance self-confidence, and most importantly to have fun away from their caring responsibilities.
A participant commented after the project: “I can now sing in front of more people and feel more confident in sharing my ideas. John [our musician] was really funny and friendly and made sure that everyone was included. I’m hoping my family will be proud of what I achieved.”
On Friday 11, a group of young carers also had the chance to make beaded fabric necklaces and brooches in a one-day jewellery making workshop. This was targeted at hard to reach girls to give them a much needed break from their caring responsibilities.
Staff at Young Carers Project Kingston said about the participants: “It was lovely to see and hear them communicating. The small, nurturing environment facilitated this. They were proud of what they created and valued the time and energy the professional artist gave them.”
YOUNG CARERS TAKE A CREATIVE APPROACH TO MOTHER’S DAY
In March 2014, our professional jewellery designer worked with 18 young carers in Hackney to create unique button bracelets and bejewelled cards as Mother’s Day gifts, as part of our art:space project.
The children learnt basic jewellery making skills before being given the freedom to explore their creativity using a variety of materials – and of course their imaginations! Each child created something personal and memorable for a loved one and interacted with each other to build confidence and self-esteem.
One staff member commented: “I think the children will gain a sense of pride and will feel happy that they have given something to their mum that they’ve made on their own. I love all of the Create sessions and I believe the children do too!”
The children said they loved learning new skills, and one commented: “It made me feel like a person who was taken care of.”
Our Chief Executive, Nicky Goulder, said: “Making a personal gift for a loved one has to be one of the most wonderful things you can do and we are so grateful to British Land for enabling us to give young carers in Hackney this opportunity. The children have created beautiful gifts and cards for their mums, which will make them feel really special on Sunday.”
art:space is our multi-artform project for young carers in Camden, Hackney, Westminster and Southwark, funded by British Land. There are almost 250,000 children in England and Wales caring for a relative. 27% of them miss school and an overwhelming 68% experience bullying and social isolation. art:space has been designed to give young carers a break from their caring responsibilities and a chance to do something fun, imaginative and artistic with their peers in a safe, non-threatening environment. It also helps to create a network through which they can provide mutual support.
