Z-arts are delighted to announce that our friends at Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Manchester (BGCGM) have received funding for Mix It Up, a brand new arts programme in partnership with Z-arts.

Mix It Up is a series of multi-artform workshops for young people aged 8 – 16 in five children’s groups in Greater Manchester based in Wythenshawe, Oldham, Blackley, Collyhurst and Moss Side. The workshops will run for a total of 40 weeks across the academic year.

The five groups will get one workshop every week for 40 weeks between November 2019 and November 2020. There are five different activities on offer to each club over the year. The activities are arts and crafts, screen-printing, textiles & design, singing/song-writing and performing arts. After eight sessions the activity will rotate to the next group until each group has had all five. There will be a total of 200 workshops delivered. Bronze Arts Award will be offered for those who wish to participate.

In May there will be a trip to Z-arts to watch INUK. Young people will have opportunities to record and exhibit all work produced during the project. There will also be an Instagram page to document and encourage online sharing of the work.

Mix It Up will give invaluable insight into the ways that youth groups in Greater Manchester operate and improve Z-arts’ understanding of how to deliver future outreach and engagement programmes.

Commenting on the project, Z-arts’ Engagement Officer Yemi Bolatiwa said, “We’re so proud to be able to run a project of this scale. We’re very passionate about it’s potential to inspire creative futures for young people in Greater Manchester and hope to continue the legacy in years to come!”