A SOCIAL enterprise has been launched to help young people get into the creative industries.
The ‘Mind the Gap’ crowdfunding campaign by Winchester Creatives seeks to raise £5,000 during August.
The team seek to raise £50,000 to fund paid-for apprenticeships and mentoring places for jobless Winchester creatives between the ages of 20-24 years old, focussing on candidates from BAME and diverse backgrounds.
The campaign wants to support five fund apprenticeships in five disciplines over five months.
Also supporting 10 free mentoring places with 10 local creative leaders
Richard Coope, co-founder of Winchester Creatives said: “Covid-19 has left a hole in the futures of Hampshire’s young creatives. According to the BBC, more young people are experiencing feelings of hopelessness and job despair.
"The Resolution Foundation Think Tank predicts the UK level of unemployment will rise leaving one million under-25s out of a job for the foreseeable future. It is clear something has to be done quickly to stop our young people from falling through the gap. The Winchester Creatives team want to do something to change that”.
Winchester Creatives was started by Dan Benham in 2017 as a networking event to encourage people to meet and share ideas. The regular events were paused last summer and Winchester Creatives looked like it would stop for good.
Richard then won a ‘Projects that Matter’ grant from Winchester City Council and Crowfunder to relaunch the Winchester Creatives community in February. When lockdown happened Richard and Dan agreed to set up the not-for-profit social enterprise.
Dan said; “I left university in 2010 at the height of the last recession and remember what it was like trying to find experience and work at that time, along with the hundreds of other creative graduates in the local area. If we can help even a few young people find a job or a work placement it’ll be a successful project.”
Every pound that goes into the organisation goes to someone who needs it. Everyone involved in the campaign has volunteered their time and are dedicated to help young creatives to ‘mind the gap’.
The ‘Mind the Gap’ crowdfunder campaign is now live and runs until the end of August.
Beyond the £5,000 that the team seeks to raise through the crowdfunding campaign in August, the team are looking to raise a further £50,000 from local sponsors and donors to offer five young job hunters fully-funded apprenticeships.
The founders are seeking to encourage candidates from BAME and diverse backgrounds to get involved in the creative industry and help change it for good.
Richard added: “A vibrant creative community benefits everyone in society, so it falls to every one of us to help the next generation get in and get on. Winchester Creatives has set up the ability for us all to help, but it needs everyone in the Winchester and Hampshire area to spread the word far and wide, donate and buy the exclusive rewards, tell their friends, neighbours, family, colleagues, and for everyone to give what they can. We need your support”.
Over the next month Winchester Creatives will be putting out news and updates on the campaign's progress. More information can be found at winchestercreatives.co.uk
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