Elevate with Forest Forge and Forest Arts Centre

Many young people in the New Forest struggle to access meaningful arts work experience, making it harder for them to pursue careers in the creative industries. In 2024, Forest Arts Centre joined forces with Forest Forge Theatre to support Elevate, a unique work experience initiative aimed at addressing this issue. As part of the collaboration, an extra facilitation strand was added, with Year 10, 11 and 12 students being given the opportunity to work within the Forest Forge Learning and Education team. Their role involved collaborating with the performing work experience cohort and Forest Forge Theatre to devise and deliver workshops based on the theme of the year, mental health.

The Learning and Education work experience team was responsible for developing the company vision, creating lesson plans, learning how to facilitate workshops and then delivering those workshops to the community. These workshops included year 7s from Arnewood School, residents at Kingfishers Care Home and home educated young people. During the week, the young participants had the chance to learn from other community facilitators, such as printmakers and pottery artists, exploring what makes an effective facilitator and deepening their understanding of roles available in the community arts and cultural sector.

This partnership allowed the organisers to connect with young people aged 15-17: of these, 50% visited Forest Arts Centre for the first time, while 83% stated they had not previously had access to similar creative experiences. By the end of the week, the young participants, all of whom were from the New Forest, recognised their creative abilities and expressed an interest in pursuing a career in the arts.