Creative Activators is the youth voice group for Culture Unlocked (Wigan & Leigh Cultural Education Partnership). Produced by Wigan STEAM, the project aims to enable young people living in Wigan & Leigh to make their voices heard and make decisions about how arts and culture takes place in the borough.
During the summer holidays we took the Creative Activators on a tour of Wigan and Leigh to conduct an audit of arts and cultural organisations and venues. This audit will be shared with the venues and organisations we visited, to enable them to embed youth voice into their work and make arts and culture in the borough more accessible for our young people.
We asked the group to give us an insight into their experience and what they thought of the venues they visited...
"In the summer, we went to Cross Street Arts, the Museum of Wigan Life, The Old Courts, The Turnpike Gallery, Wigan & Leigh Archives and Leigh Spinners Mill."
The Turnpike Gallery
"The last time I went to Leigh Spinners Mill the fourth floor didn’t have walls but this time it did have walls. Lee, who works at Leigh Spinners Mill, showed us around. I feel proud that something like this is in our area and very surprised that it is there. I'd like to see the building when it is finished - everything appealed to me."
Leigh Spinners Mill & The Turnpike Gallery
"When we went to Cross Street Arts where we met the artist who made the exhibition (Farther by Matylda Augustynek). She spoke about the exhibition, why she did it and how it came to be."
Cross St Arts
"I liked the room with the deformed mattress, I also liked the farts throne by Anna FC Smith - you sit on it and it farts. I also liked the calligraphy room - I still have the piece of paper with my name on it - I liked how he wrote my name, the way he did all the swirly stuff on my name."
Wigan & Leigh Archives
"I think it is important for young people to know and have access to these places to see a side of the town that hasn’t been seen before. It’s so good that the town has so many free spaces that are being used - it gives young people free interest to do what they want.
It was a very engaging experience - the best experience. It was fun."
The Old Courts & Museum of Wigan Life
If you're interested in any of the arts and culture venues we mentioned here, take a look at the links below!
If you run a venue, are planning a project, or run an organisation that you think would benefit from some input from the Creative Activators, keep your eyes peeled - we're soon going to be launching an online platform that will enable us to provide more opportunities for young people and further embed youth voice into the sector locally.
In partnership with Culture Unlocked (Wigan & Leigh’s Cultural Partnership)