scep – Southampton Cultural Education Partnership

A Summer Full of Colour: What Made Southampton’s Cultural Offering This Summer So Successful?

As a new school year begins and we all settle back into our familiar routines, summer is already beginning to feel like a distant memory. But before we get swept up in plans for the year ahead, I’d like to reflect on what’s been a busy three months for Southampton’s cultural sector.

This summer, creative organisations from across the city showcased Southampton’s thriving arts and culture scene. For locals and visitors alike, there were a plethora of workshops, exhibitions, pop-ups, and festivals to explore. And you don’t have to scroll far on social media to see the smiling faces of organisers, participants, and attendees. But what was it that made these events so successful?

1. A commitment to co-creation

Co-creation is something we talk about a lot in SCEP meetings, and it was good to see organisations putting this into practice over the summer. A brilliant example of co-creation was the Emerge Youth Festival delivered by SoCo Music Project and Southampton Forward. They worked with young people from across the city to create an exciting new festival with live music and local vendors.

Turner Sims also engaged young people when planning their Summer Festival. Their collective of young music programmers, The Vibe, hosted two events at the festival, brining a new perspective to Turner Sims’ already eclectic musical offering.

Co-creation will look different depending on the activities and opportunities you have on offer, but some easy options include working with young people to choose performers for events, design marketing materials, and develop creative programmes and projects.

2. A celebration of local talent

One of the values that our SCEP members share is their passion for cultivating and showcasing local talent. Southampton-based creatives were celebrated at a variety of events this summer, from stallholders at the Mela Festival to performers at Southampton Pride.

While it can be tempting to think that big household names are the best way to capture the attention of your audience, emerging and established local creatives play an important role in keeping your event relevant. And, as an added bonus, these individuals and companies often do a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to ticket sales and marketing. So, if you’re not already taking advantage of Southampton’s abundance of makers, performers, and creative practitioners, this is definitely something to consider in the year ahead.

3. A chance to work together

At our last Members’ Meeting, we spoke a lot about creating opportunities for collaboration, and it was great to see so many of our members partnering on projects and events this summer. There are lots of great reasons to team up with other organisations in the sector, from sharing resources and pooling budgets, to sharing expertise and reaching new audiences. And it’s not just official partnerships that can have an impact. Inviting local charities and businesses to run stalls at your event is a simple yet effective way of introducing young people to the variety of arts projects and programmes on offer in the city.

Looking forward

As the autumn term gets underway, many of us will be turning our attention to the challenges facing the sector over the next academic year. In the midst of writing reports and balancing budgets it can be easy to lose sight of what we’re all working towards. But in those moments, let’s reflect on the summer and all the hurdles that we overcame to showcase the very best of Southampton’s arts and culture scene.

Delving Into the Data: What the #BeeWell Survey Tells Us About Southampton’s Young People

Understanding the experiences of young people can be challenging. We are often forced to rely on anecdotal evidence, conversations with parents and educators, or our own instincts developed over years working in the sector. Even when high quality quantitative data does exist, the findings aren’t always relevant to the young people in our local neighbourhoods. That’s where programmes like #BeeWell come in.

What is #BeeWell?

#BeeWell is a youth-centred programme that exists to improve the wellbeing of young people across England. #BeeWell listens to the voices of young people through an annual wellbeing survey delivered with secondary schools. They work closely with young people, schools, partner organisations, local government, and health systems to act on the results.

Last autumn, #BeeWell surveyed just over 22,000 Year 8 and 10 pupils in 103 secondary schools across in Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth, and Southampton. The survey covered numerous topics including health, relationships, hobbies, school, and much more.

The findings, released in March, give us a better idea of how our young people are feeling.

What about arts and culture?

The hobbies and entertainment section asked young people about the time they spent on various activities, including those linked to arts and culture.

Cinema and Theatre

When asked how often they go to the cinema or the theatre, 19% of the young people surveyed said they go to at least once a month, 45.8% go occasionally, while 35.2% go once a year or less. The picture in different Southampton neighbourhoods varies slightly, with 22.2% going at least once a month in Southampton South, compared to 16.2% in Southampton West. The data also shows a slight increase in visits for those with Special Educational Needs (SEN) compared to those without.

Reading for Pleasure

When asked how often they read for pleasure, 26% of young people said they read at least once a week compared to over 60% who read several times a year or less. The data shows that boys, those in older year groups, those who received free school meals and those with SEN are all less likely to read often compared to their peers. When broken down by area, the number of young people reading often was lower than average in Southampton East, North, South, and West, but higher than average in Southampton Central.

Making Things

When asked how often they draw, paint or make things outside of school, 40.4% of young people said they do this often or sometimes compared to just under 60% who did this occasionally or rarely. When looking at how gender affects these figures, the number of young people doing these activities often drops from 50.2% for girls to 28.8% for boys.

What next?

When we compare the findings above to the high number of young people regularly engaging in sports outside of school (71.4%), we can see that there’s still a long way to go to improve engagement in arts and culture. However, quantitative data can only ever tell us part of the story, to fill in the blanks we need to continue to engage in conversations with young people and other stakeholders. We need to keep evaluating ourselves and asking the challenging questions. Are our services affordable, accessible, and inclusive? Are we visible enough to the communities we aim to support? How can we collaborate with other sectors like sports or healthcare? How can get better at referring to other services in our area?

But you don’t have to do it alone. Through our blog and our Member Meetings, the SCEP is here to help you find creative solutions to the issues facing our young people.

Further Reading

#BeeWell Neighbourhood Data Hive

HIPS Headline Findings 2024

The #BeeWell team also completed a research briefing on PACE, where conclusions show that engagement in a wide range of activities is beneficial for wellbeing. Read more here.

To discuss the programme in more detail the team can be contacted at hiow.beewell@hants.gov.uk

You Said, We Did

We surveyed Southampton Cultural Education Partnership (SCEP) members in the spring of 2023 about the future of the SCEP. Key things you said you valued about the SCEP were:

The generosity of spirit SCEP engenders and how egalitarian our spaces feel
How our meetings increase your understanding of the cultural sector in Southampton and new policies and strategies
That our work improves your practice through sharing approaches, projects and training
Developing your networks which feeds into new projects and work
That we extend the reach of the cultural sector into other areas in the city e.g. Youth and Health services

You said you liked the meetings being a mix of online and in person, and that the SCEP newsletter was useful for finding out about new funding and activities, although you asked for bullet points at the top of each newsletter on its contents.

We also asked about your priorities and the areas you felt the SCEP should focus on. You told us children’s health and wellbeing was a key concern, how young people’s employability skills were supported, and how we ensure that it was easy for children in Southampton to know what was on offer and access arts and culture. As a result the SCEP Steering Group agreed our three strategic aims which are:

Increasing Health & Wellbeing for children and young people through arts engagement
Pathways & Progression: testing out new approaches to conserve capacity and resources including referrals processes
Building a workforce for the future: providing inclusive training and skills development opportunities for young people and the cultural sector

Over the past year, as well as concentrating on how the SCEP delivers our strategic aims, we have focused on delivering the things you value about the SCEP. We have:

Set up termly member meetings that are online (October 2023) and in person (February 2024)
Planned in extra time to in-person meetings for networking
Added a section to meetings for members to present emerging practice
Added bullet points to the top of our newsletters

We look forward to continuing our work with you to nurture creative and cultural education for all children and young people in the City over the next year.

Creative Health and the Role of Arts Organisations in Health and Wellbeing

By Rosanna Sloan

Rosanna is the Interim CEO at The Arts Development Company and the SCEP Steering Group lead for Health and Wellbeing.

Creative Health is the practice of using culture and creativity to improve people’s health, wellbeing, and quality of life. You may have heard of dance classes for those with Parkinson’s disease or music therapy for dementia patients, but Creative Health supports people of all ages. Many cultural projects for children and young people have direct or indirect benefits to their health and wellbeing, and so, you may be working in Creative Health without even realising.

“When we remember the WHO definition of health, which states that health is more than merely the absence of disease and infirmity, but the attainment of the highest level of physical, mental and social well-being, then the value of the arts becomes apparent.”
WHO Arts & Health Lead, Christopher Bailey

We are currently facing a mental health crisis for children and young people.

It is a sobering statistic that there is a 50% increase in the likelihood of a young person having a mental health problem. 50%. The effects of the pandemic, exam pressure, social media and so on are having a tangible impact on the wellbeing of young people. It is concerning that 34% of young people who get referred to the NHS for treatment are not accepted. Our health facilities are struggling, and this is where the arts can help.

Social Prescribing

Social prescribing is when an activity or service is ‘prescribed’ instead of, or in addition to, medication. It is an area that needs further demystifying for arts organisations. There are, in some areas, dedicated Social Prescriber or Link Worker roles that prescribe activity to support a patient’s recovery.

“Our measures should reflect this holistic approach, focusing not solely on reduction of symptoms but on how the arts may help us cope, achieve our potential, be productive, and active members of a community.”
WHO Arts & Health Lead, Christopher Bailey

What I am seeing as I delve further into the research and on the ground delivery of Creative Health, is that these two distinct sectors need a translator to bridge the communication void between them. The two sectors use different terminology and the funding systems behind creative health from the healthcare sector are not clear. However, there are organisations that are trying to support this, including the organisation I work for The Arts Development Company.

Creative Health is—as demonstrated across many research papers—a highly successful and cost-effective way to improve a person’s health. It allows people to live happier, longer, more fulfilled lives, which in turn reduces strain on healthcare services. And so, it is an area that more arts organisations need to tap into.

What can we do?

As arts budgets are being reduced, we need to tap into the funding streams for Creative Health and identify projects that deliver health benefits for its participants. In our SCEP newsletters, we already see many examples of our members working in this area, but how can more of us get involved?

“We know that time is an important factor in establishing good programmes, so we must work together as a sector to ensure our services have longevity.”

We need to read up and be engaged in the conversations and research papers around Creative Health. We need to find a way to collaborate with health services and each other to create multi-year projects that are effective and provide stability for those that need them. Too often, wonderful projects happen, they support their participants for a short time, and then a lack of funding spells the end of all that work. We know that time is an important factor in establishing good programmes, so we must work together as a sector to ensure our services have longevity.

In addition to this, we should keep our eyes open to examples of best practice for people of all ages and question the health outcomes of our projects so we can provide data for future potential funders. We should use the right language and take advantage of the excellent work that has been done already in this area, for example using the Creative Health Framework as a way to consider and plan Creative Health projects.

As the SCEP Steering Group lead for Health and Wellbeing, I would welcome any of our members to get in touch to connect on your Creative Health projects and your interest in this area.

Further Reading:

Creative Health Talks

Creative Health Quality Framework

Creative Health: The Short Report

Arts Council

National Centre for Creative Health (NCCH)

NCCH Roundtable on Education and Training: Creativity for Health and Wellbeing in the Education System

Social Prescribing (Barnardos)

Join us for the SCEP Expo on Monday 11 March

Join Southampton Cultural Education Partnership (SCEP) for an evening of networking and celebration at John Hansard Gallery on Monday 11 March, 17.30-19.00.

We are delighted to host the Connecting Culture Project and the young Cultural Connectors as they launch the Young People’s Manifesto for Culture and Creativity in Southampton. Connect with arts and cultural organisations and meet SCEP members who will be sharing examples of activities and resources available for children, young people, and schools in Southampton.

Cultural Connectors at What’s Next Southampton? Credit: @devplacephotos

Directions to John Hansard Gallery can be found here. If you’d like to attend, please RSVP below.