Jessie from our 16-25s group got a small grant and set up a free creative arts club for children in West Norwood. With the funding she booked the library for saturday afternoons and purchased a range of arts materials, paying a couple of young youth leaders from Woodcraft and the wider community to supervise children while she led the workshops on things like kite-making, claywork and crafts, on a voluntary basis.With the complete lack of services for the working class children in the area, it wasn't too suprising that by running a quality service and by building links with the local council estates, the club became very popular.
What was suprising, was it came from young activists and that it didn't just benefit the children, infact all the parents would love joining in with the activities!
It was also a chance for young volunteers from Woodcraft and local youth groups to get some paid weekend work and as the club grew and a bit more funding came in, local artists were paid to run the workshops.
After 4 months of growth and success Come and Create's Norwood Arts Club finsished with an exhibition of the children's work at the Co-operative YouthBank launch party.
Jessie was no longer able to access funding from Lambeth as she had turned 20 (Lambeth Youth Opportunity Fund is only accessible for people aged 13-19) and it is a real shame that Lambeth Council make it very hard for voluntary projects like this to function sustainably. While more than £100'000 thrown at Lambeth Youth Mayor project and salaries for its support staff.
Jessie, Makeda and myself have since set up Come and Create as a not-for-profit creative organisation run by young people, with the aim of providing children from low-income families in West Norwood, opportunities for free holiday creative workshops, access to outdoor arts and dance.
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