We work with partners to find young people who might not usually attend local arts venues and events. We support them to explore their interests and post their reviews on Voice magazine. We’ve developed the programme with support from Arts Council England, The National Lottery Community Fund and UK Youth. Read reviews written by young people in our pilot project or follow the progress of five new groups in 2022.
Simon Pickering from Dot To Dot evaluated the pilot and said:
“Young people clearly felt they had ownership of the project and its direction”,
” Most notably,100% of the young people interviewed stated that they would recommend the project to a friend or other young people” and
“Young people reported that the facilitators and their approach towards the group meetings and training was excellent”.
In future we’ll be supporting more group trips to build confidence in discussing responses, and offering online resources. We’re also going to offer media skills for those who don’t want to write and host get-togethers for people in different groups.
Some of the feedback from participants was:
I loved meeting all the new people and really enjoyed learning more about reviewing. I could not recommend this project highly enough – it should be available to ALL young people
Young Reviewer
Voice Outreach has definitely confirmed to me that I would like to work in the arts sector in the future
Young Reviewer
Voice Outreach was really good because I got to see the other places and theatre; it gave me a much better view of the arts overall
Young Reviewer
Voice Outreach got me out of my safe comfort zone and experiencing new types of art
Young Reviewer
It definitely helped my confidence, especially with regards to writing
Young Reviewer
We were delighted to receive reviews from young participants and the producers of the show reviewed really appreciated the views of a younger audience.
Arts Alive, Shropshire
This project is brilliant and has also supported a stronger link between the partner organisations. Everyone benefits from young reviewers.”
The Voice Outreach team were very supportive throughout and I would definitely recommend this project to others
Trent Bridge Community Trust, Nottingham
A quality project, run by a quality organisation.
New Vic Theatre, Stoke on Trent
We would definitely like to continue supporting
Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury