Tue 5 Aug

Talent Accelerator: East Sussex Summer Updates

As part of our Coastal Catalyst partnership, Talent Accelerator is leading delivery in East Sussex - creating practical opportunities for young people to gain skills, confidence and experience in creative industries.

Here’s some of what’s been happening this summer across Newhaven, Eastbourne, Bexhill and beyond.

Newhaven – Gallery Invigilation Training and Paid Shifts

Working alongside exhibitions at BN9 Studios in Newhaven, Talent Accelerator was pleased to have been able to offer a number of young people support with gaining new skills in gallery invigilation. As part of this, participants were given training on what the role entails and the things they’d be responsible for, which ultimately led onto paid work for these young people at BN9 exhibitions. Talent Accelerator was pleased to offer this opportunity over two different exhibition periods, including ‘Folklore’ by Toad Lickers Collective in March–April, as well as ‘New Pop Max’ by Bruce Asbestos in collaboration with Look Again Newhaven and Hospitable Environment in April–June. This was a great blueprint for a way of working with young people that not only offered them new skills but allowed them to showcase those skills in action whilst being paid for their time

Creative Mentoring with Stuart Waters – Eastbourne and Brighton

Noticing a lot of feedback from the young people Talent Accelerator works with that what they lack most is confidence in their abilities to make it in the creative industries, as well as a lack of experience around creating tangible projects, Talent Accelerator put together a creative mentoring programme to address these challenges. Working with Eastbourne-based dance, wellbeing and movement artist Stuart Waters, they were able to offer a six-week programme focused on building a realistic creative project and pitching it back to the group, with wellbeing and accessibility weaved into the sessions. This programme was offered out to young people based in East Sussex, with the first cohort taking place at Devonshire Collective in Eastbourne, and the second cohort meeting at Sound Rooms in Brighton. Young people left the programme feeling more confident in their futures within the creative industries, with a project they could look to create or seek funding for, as well as wellbeing techniques to ensure they have methods to prioritise their mental health while entering and working in the creative industries.

Summer Work Experience Across East Sussex

This summer, Talent Accelerator has put together a series of unique work experiences focusing on history, heritage, and nature through learning new digital skills. With the support from University of Brighton staff, they are offering a work experience around content creation skills through the lens of folklore at Mint House in Pevensey, alongside another work experience based at Bexhill Museum which offers young people the chance to explore their local history and heritage by creating their own podcast. Talent Accelerator is also pleased to be partnering with Devonshire Collective and Class Divide on ‘Neolithic Cannibals’, which offers young people in Eastbourne an opportunity to take on paid work experience, where they’ll learn audio editing and recording skills to explore Eastbourne’s Bronze Age history.

Want to know more about the work happening across Sussex through Coastal Catalyst?

Follow Talent Accelerator and Future Creators on Socials to keep up to date!

Instagram: @talentaccelerator_ @futurecreatorsuk

LinkedIn: Future Creators