Artswork is a charity that helps young people find their voices

Louise Govier

My passion has always been connecting people with creativity – it can have such a positive effect on our lives, from building skills and confidence to just having fun. I worked in different museums, galleries and heritage sites before joining Artswork during lockdown. It was very strange not meeting my colleagues in person for months, and so lovely to have that first in-person coffee overlooking the walls behind West Quay.

I’ve lived near Southampton for 20 years and worked around the city but only really started to get to know it five years ago. For me, it’s a hidden gem with so much to discover and loads going on that people don’t always know about. Most of all, I’ve met some brilliant people here.

I’ve lived near Southampton for 20 years and worked around the city but only really started to get to know it five years ago. For me, it’s a hidden gem with so much to discover and loads going on that people don’t always know about. Most of all, I’ve met some brilliant people here.

Artswork is a charity that was started in Southampton 35 years ago and now works across the South. We empower young people through creativity, enabling them to develop themselves and to lead the change they want to see. This is what inspired me to become CEO – it’s an organisation that helps young people to find their voices, to get into the careers they want, and to take the lead in their communities.

I think we often hear negative things about young people, but in my experience, they have so much positive energy and great ideas, if we give them the chance to speak up and some support to take their own action.

Artswork does creative consultations with young people in many different communities across the South, including Southampton, and they often tell us that they are bored, sometimes scared (about possible discrimination and violence), and that they don’t always feel welcome or that they ‘belong’ in the places where they live. Many struggle with low confidence and issues around mental health and wellbeing.

But when you ask young people what might make a difference, they are full of practical suggestions. Artswork invests in them to shape and lead creative projects that will make change, everything from murals and wellbeing gardens to films, festivals and space makeovers for services including mental health support and social care. With our investment, young Cultural Connectors created their own manifesto for culture and creativity in Southampton, using their research with other children and young people to set out a radical guide for change.

Much of our current funding, however, is for work outside the city – so it has been wonderful to have funding support from Southampton Forward for Your Stories. These are a series of free, entirely youth-led creative workshops, designed and delivered by a team of fantastic local young people.

They were initially inspired by the exhibition of Jane Austen’s writing desk at God’s House Tower at the start of the year. The young people worked with our partners at In Focus to develop some creative workshop ideas and these have now grown into the current series of workshops on offer in Southampton from mid-August to mid-October.

The young creatives wanted to ask what Jane Austen might be writing about if she was alive now. What ‘quiet stories’ from daily life and society would she highlight? They feel this is an opportunity for local people to tell their stories to the world using poetry, painting, cartoons, collage, fashion, textiles and silhouette photography as different ways to represent who we are.

The workshops have been designed for adults, young people and children aged 11 and over, so if you’re a literature lover, a budding creative or just someone with any kind of story to tell, this is your space to be heard.

There are free drinks and snacks at every workshop (this was very important to the young people), and everyone is welcome. You can sign up for as many workshops as you’d like to attend. They are all either at October Books on Portswood Road or in Eagle Lab (opposite Asda in the centre).

We will be sharing the art produced digitally across the autumn and winter, and the young people are hoping to put on an exhibition too. They are also planning a celebration for Jane Austen’s actual 250^th birthday on 16^th December, but as yet those plans are top secret!

To sign up for Your Stories, visit: https://artswork.org.uk/news/your-stories.