Since last autumn, I have been working freelance for Tate carrying out research for their Routes In Programme which is a legacy project of their National Circuit programme and has three strands as follows:
Institutional Change - championing diversity and inclusion within Tate including the Young People’s Programme being part of the Learning Recruitment working group;
Routes In Network - involving a wide range of organisations working with young people in a careers focused way, and creating an ongoing dialogue to share best practice about how we can work together to enable progression routes in particular for those who are underrepresented;
Public Programmes - for young people (and parents) to raise awareness and understanding of career opportunities within the arts whilst supporting them on their progression routes.
Routes In began in 2017 and three years in it was identified that research needed to be carried out to make recommendations for the next steps of the Programme with the focus on these three questions:
Section 1: What’s already on offer to young people 15-25 years?
Section 2: What’s enabling change in the sector?
Section 3: Where are the gaps?
The research consisted of a number of stages as follows:
Online research to set the current scene of youth provision within London and beyond;
Conversations with staff at targeted organisations including The Creative Society, Creative Access, Flow Associates, Create London, Creative & Cultural Skills, Ambitious About Autism and Tate Liverpool, with many other staff not responding to requests to connect during the COVID-19 lockdown due to other priorities or being on furlough;
Consultation with young people via an online meeting with a small group of Tate Collective Producers (TCPs) along with some Tate Learning staff;
Liaison with Routes In Network members including some co-facilitating at face to face Routes In Network meetings, and an online survey completed by 20 members during the COVID-19 lockdown; this was originally to follow an online meeting where the key ideas from the research were going to be introduced which had to be postponed due to other priorities, in particular the impact of Black Lives Matter;
Meetings with Tate staff in particular Rachel Noel, Convenor: Young People’s Programmes, and Peju Oshin, Curator: Young People’s Programmes;
Disseminating the research to three different audiences, by:
a. writing an overall report for Tate;
b. compiling a summary report for the Routes In Network members covering key findings and recommendations;
c. making suggestions for digital content hosted on the Tate website aimed at young people (and parents).
Once the summary report is designed up and ready to share publicly I will add a link here. I have enjoyed carrying out this research as this is an area of work I am particularly passionate about. I look forward to presenting the findings at a future Routes In Network meeting, and then being involved in making actions as part of the Network moving forward.
