Element: Our year in review
At Element HQ, we’ve been reflecting on the incredible journey that we’ve been on this year, so we hope you’re warm and cosy whilst we share with you this special end-of-year blog post!
As we bid farewell to 2023, join us in celebrating the highlights from this year. We hear from our Head of Programme Delivery, Head of Programme Development, and Youth Engagement Manager on their celebrations, proud moments and things they are looking forward to in 2024!
First things first, Element welcomed three new team members this year!
🌟Meet Innes: Our New Youth Engagement Manager
In July, we welcomed Innes as our new Youth Engagement Manager! Innes brought a wealth of experience as a creative engagement practitioner, with a genuine passion for participatory practices and a background in creative research methods.
One of Innes's goals is to forge innovative partnerships with art institutions, opening up new avenues for our young creatives. The aim? To provide them with ample opportunities to unleash their creativity to the fullest!
Summer gave us only one week of sunshine but in August, Element expanded its horizons with the addition of Liz and Serena!
🌟Meet Liz: Our new Programme Delivery Officer
Liz joined us as the new Programme Delivery Officer! Having seamlessly integrated her photography skills into her volunteer work at a local youth charity in Croydon and the South London Gallery in Peckham, Liz now aims to champion the needs of young people from underrepresented communities through art.
🌟 Meet Serena: Our New Team and Office Administrator
As our organisation continued to blossom and expand, the demand for a dedicated Team and Office Administrator became more evident. In August we were thrilled to extend a warm welcome to Serena. From the city of Dublin, Ireland, Serena brought not only her professional expertise but also a passion for youth empowerment.
Now, let's dive into an end of year update from the rest of the team!
Jord-ann Rhule-Campbell
(Head of Programme Delivery)
We were lucky enough to work with 297 young people this year, this means that 288 creative arts sessions were delivered across London!
Our schools projects, delivered in partnership with West London Zone were full of exploring, learning and messy artistic fun. This year we continued on expanding our offer to primary schools and were in our feels with the feedback from mini creatives:
“I have enjoyed my time with Element, this has been the best fun of my life!!”
Across the year we also partnered with Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster Council, Islington Council, Centrepoint and Harrow & Barnet Virtual Schools. These projects worked with care experienced young people and also asylum seekers and refugees. We used various artforms to explore big, BIG themes like identity, community and culture, we are super proud of their achievements!
“It is very important to help young people, especially young people like me who have no one in this country to have places like Element to go to. I have been able to celebrate my strengths, family and culture which has been nice whilst making something which I can keep to remind me of this.” - RBKC Young creative Summer 2023
In addition, we also grew our offer of CPD workshops to social care teams, these sessions support professionals to connect the importance of creative practice when working with young people
“The trainers had great energy and it was a lovely way of thinking about using art in a more accessible way for care experienced young people” Practice Manager, Islington Council
Behind the scenes, 2023 was the time to reimagine our monitoring, evaluation and impact processes. It was time for a glow up….and that’s what we did!
Across the year, we undertook a MASSIVE project to re-do it all…. which led to co-creation work with young people who informed a shiny new Theory of Change, an MEI framework and also a set of accessible and meaningful tools to capture impact across all of our work. We are really proud of our new MEI process and look forward to sharing it with you across our work in 2024!
2023 has provided us with SO many opportunities to learn, grow and experience some creative joy! A big thank you to all who continue to believe in our work and a special thank you to all the young creatives that we’ve had the privilege of working with this year.
Lydia Paulett
(Head of Programme Development)
This year has been one of growth for Element, and Programme Development is no exception to that! Back in January, we set out an exciting and ambitious plan to completely re-shape the content of our Care Experienced Projects (CEYP), with newer, more relevant themes and art forms. As well as robust frameworks that outline what makes Element content special, and how we maintain quality and consistency across it. As part of this, we thought hard on what good co-creation means and how it can be done in non tokenistic ways, we then undertook a series of consultations alongside Element Young Creatives and Ideation Sessions with Element Staff.
During these we delved into exactly what young people want and need to see represented in the Element programme. From creative campaigns and time capsules, to how to navigate fake news, and cultural appropriation vs appreciation, the ideas have originated from the hearts and minds of the young people and Element team.
Of course though, we’re not stopping there. Next year we’ll be developing content for two additional parts of the Element programme, our work with schools and CPD workshops, so watch this space!
Innes Eccles
(Youth Engagement Manager)
Wow! It’s been a big year in the Creative Community at Element with lots of trips, events, projects and laughs along the way. And of course, we said a big Thank You and Goodbye to Alex, who handed the Creative Community over to Innes.
We’ve gone on some amazing trips to see art all over London, including to see the New Black Vanguard at Saatchi, the Lynette Yiadom-Boakye exhibition at Tate and Flip! At Soho Theatre to name a few! As well as being out and about we’ve got to know some of the local radical history of Ladbroke Grove through a walking tour with Dan Glass, used drop in sessions to explore Queer Pride, Notting Hill Carnival, AI and social media identity. A highlight has to be the In the Mix collaboration with Tate Britain and Winchester School of Art, where creatives from Element’s creative community have worked collaboratively to generate art using AI technology. It was exhibited at the Late at Tate Britain in December, where the crew not only made the artwork, but codesigned participatory aspects of the event too! Big ups to those involved!
Outside of our youth offer, we’ve been busy working hard to talk to young people about what they want from Element, and then do it! This has included; changing the day of drop in so more young people can come, responding to requests for themes, artworks and content, streamlining and building our 1:1 support offer, strategising on our partnerships plans, and further imbedding MEI and reflexive practice into the Creative Community to ensure that our work and offer is led by the young people we work with. Thanks to all of the creative community who have shared their thoughts, ideas and insights so far!
Alongside all of this, we also supported young people into paid work either here at Element as co-facilitators on Element Projects, and external to Element at institutions including Tate and Dulwich Picture Gallery. Congratulations to everyone who’s been working hard this year!
Bring on 2024!
As we come to the end of 2023, Element extends gratitude to each and every one of you for being an integral part of our mission: to produce projects where young people develop their creative identities and are recognized as individuals with purpose and potential.
Here's to the memories we've made and cheers to 2024!
With love,
the Element team
x
