Handing over the reins to the next generation: Take Over enables young people from Greece, Italy, Poland and Serbia to programme and produce a series of events in their local arts venues
How can we engage more young people with arts and culture? One answer is to hand over the reins to them, and see what happens when we trust the younger generation to take charge.
Take Over is a Creative Europe co-funded project focusing on youth audience development. The project gathers partners from the UK, Greece, Serbia, Poland and Italy driven by a desire to connect, or re-connect, with 18–28 year-olds in an effort to engage with a wider and more diverse audience.
Working with the British Council, the partners – Bios in Greece, Chorea in Poland, Kolarac in Serbia, and Teatro della Limonaia in Italy – seek to change how they involve, engage with and attract young audiences. Our project offers young people the opportunity to develop skills, knowledge, and the connections they need to kickstart a career in performing arts. As part of the development of the project, the partners visited UK organisations Contact Theatre , Livity, Theatre Royal Stratford East and Artsadmin to learn about their experiences of youth audience development.
"A chance to make our own ideas come true"
The Take Over project establishes Youth Boards in each institution that take charge of curating and producing Take Over events, enabling the venues to reflect this generation’s cultural aspirations. Take Over events have now taken place in all four venues, from DJ sets to classical concerts, all with the aim to encourage more young people into cultural venues. The Youth Boards work closely with venue staff, providing insight into what attracts audiences of their generation.
"Take Over has definitely made me interested in a career involving culture"
“The Take Over oroject has definitely made me interested in a career involving culture and planning,” says Andreas, a Take Over Youth Board member. “So far a few friends and myself have set up a project space and put on an exhibition.”
"Take Over has been a unique experience for me as it is a chance to learn how to plan an event from the beginning and a chance to make our own ideas come true," adds another Youth Board member, Anastasia Kallou.
The project runs from January 2015 to August 2017. In July 2017, the partners will hold a conference and publish an online toolkit to help others set up and manage a Youth Board in a sustainable way.
To learn more about the Take Over project and hear from Youth Board members, visit the Take Over website.
