Project draws out young writing talent
A NEW creative writing project is aiming to inspire the next generation of young people in Gateshead to write, and hopefully boost their confidence and aspirations.
The £200,000 Gateshead Young Writers Programme is funded by The Kavli Trust, owners of Primula and based at the Team Valley. All of the profits from the commercial business go to supporting good causes.
New Writing North supports writers at all stages of their careers and has over 20 years’ experience in working with schools and in communities to support young people to write. The organisation’s comprehensive Young Writers programme currently runs five weekly creative writing groups across the North East, six annual summer schools, a talent investment scheme and regular masterclasses and development programmes.
Its award-winning Young Writers’ City project has staff and professional writers based at Excelsior Academy in Newcastle and Academy 360 in Sunderland, three days a week all year round. Now the funding from The Kavli Trust will bring the New Writing North Young Writers programme to Gateshead, with the help of key partners Gateshead Council, secondary schools Joseph Swan Academy, in Low Fell, and Kingsmeadow Community Comprehensive School, in Dunston, plus feeder primary schools.
From next month, writers, artists and project producers will be based in each secondary school where they will run innovative 10-week creative writing programmes with around 400 Year 7 and 8 pupils each year.
In each school, writers will also run lunchtime and after-school clubs throughout the year on a range of writing forms from rapping and songwriting, to screenwriting and poetry, so that all young people with an interest can develop their writing talent.
Domenic Volpe, headteacher at Kingsmeadow Community Comprehensive School, said: “This is an opportunity that Kingsmeadow could not pass by. The talent in this community relishes the opportunity to flourish and this investment in our students will make a real difference. We are all very excited to see where this partnership will lead us.”
Outside of school, a free creative writing group for 12-19 year olds will be held every Saturday at Gateshead Central Library, complemented by free creative writing summer schools in the borough. Throughout the programme, the young people will be able to express their own creative ideas supported by professional writers and artists. They will meet other young people who enjoy writing, create new work, and share it with audiences including their families and peers.
“We are so pleased to be involved in this inspirational project,” said Heather Scott, headteacher at Joseph Swan Academy. “To be able to link with professional writers is an exceptional opportunity, which I know our students will not only enjoy but most importantly will greatly benefit from.
“We are very much looking forward to the project starting and are excited to be involved in such a worthwhile and ambitious opportunity to support and develop writing talent both now and in the future.”
New Writing North’s executive director Anna Disley: “We are so grateful to Kavli for this visionary investment in young people in Gateshead. The programme will support young people, especially those who have fewer opportunities, to find their own creative talent or interest and it will make provision for them to pursue that on an ongoing basis.
“Working intensively, and over the long term, with groups of young people can have a real impact on their confidence, creativity and aspiration, thus increasing their life choices. This programme will help us to set up an infrastructure to enable more young people in Gateshead to identify and pursue their own talents and ambitions.”
Alice Wiseman, director of public health for Gateshead, added: “The evidence is clear that being involved in the creative arts is positive for people – it promotes social engagement and enhances mental health and wellbeing. This is even more important in childhood, where it boosts social and behavioural development, as well as literacy and educational attainment and helps build the resilience which can help to overcome disadvantage.
“This exciting initiative with New Writing North will provide the opportunity for many children in Gateshead to be involved in the creative arts for the first time, and I am keen to see them engage and enjoy the benefits this will bring.”
And general manager at the Kavli Trust, Inger Elise Iversen, said: “It is with great pleasure that the Kavli Trust has decided to award a grant to New Writing North’s Gateshead Young Writers programme.
In the four countries where the Kavli Trust operates, we prioritise mental health for children and youth, work for inclusion and prevention of loneliness, and projects that give more people the opportunity to take part in and experience cultural events.
“Our goal is to contribute to make a difference in the lives of individuals, in their local communities and to society as a whole. We look forward to working together to inspire and give young people in Gateshead the tools and opportunity to write and grow creatively and personally.”