Last Friday (27 February), we welcomed young people toBarnsley Civic to present their final ideas for the events and activities theywant to create this summer at our exciting ‘Ambition Arena’.
Pitching to a panel of Barnsley-based judges for funding tomake these ideas possible, the event was a fantastic opportunity to celebrateall the competition’s creative shortlisted entries.
Funded by Barnsley Council’s Great Childhoods Ambitionprogramme and delivered by Barnsley CVS, ‘Ambition Arena: Your Pitch, YourSummer’ is giving young people the chance to create the summer they want tosee, delivering some of the community activities and events we invest in.
After asking young people to share their big ideas with uslast year, seven groups made it to Friday’s pitching event, proposing a varietyof fun-filled activities and projects. This includes exploring new places on daytrips, producing theatre shows, hosting e-gaming tournaments and much more.
Bidding for up to £3,000 of funding to bring their ideas tolife, it’s been great to see young people learning new skills and building strongerconnections to their communities during the process.
Since being shortlisted, they’ve been working with localvoluntary, community and social enterprise organisations (VCSE) to build outtheir ideas, learning about public speaking from our panel of judges and pitchingtheir final ideas in front of friends and family at last week’s event.
After lots of deliberation from our judges, we’re excited toannounce that the following groups have been awarded £3,000 funding to delivera series of exciting events this summer:
· Chilypep, who want to roll out the redcarpet and put on a theatre show about bullying, created by their young people.Throughout the summer, they will run a series of workshops to get ready fortheir big debut, planning the lighting, staging, costumes, script and music.
· Dearne Young Producers, who want to usethe funding to crown a borough-wide e-gaming champion. Building on the successof their ‘Game On...Dearne’ tournament, they want to make the event even biggerand better, bringing the competition back to Goldthorpe this summer andtrialling it in new parts of the borough.
· Equipt, who want to get the band togetherand turn their love of music into conducting a special musical performance,using the funding to help make their sonic dreams possible, including designingtheir own upcycled outfits.
· Great Houghton, who are planning onrunning a family fun day in the village, complete with inflatables, games andcrafts, with a focus on affordable fun for children and young people.
Working with VCSE organisations, we’re excited to followtheir journeys over the coming months as they turn their ideas into activitiesyoung people across the borough can get involved in.
Councillor Ashley Peace, Cabinet Spokesperson forChildren’s Services and one of our Ambition Arena judges, said: “With ourGreat Childhoods Ambition programme, we’re proud to be creating moreopportunities for our children and young people to dream big and build brighterfutures.
“It’s therefore been great to partner with Barnsley CVS onour ‘Ambition Arena’, placing our young people in the driving seat to createthe summer they want to see. I was really impressed by all the groups, whopitched brilliantly last week, and it was great to hear all their excitingideas for the sorts of activities we should be offering in our communities.
“Deciding the winners was no easy feat, so I would like tothank everyone involved for all the hard work they put into their pitches, andI can’t wait to see the winning projects come to life.”
Lara Bundock, CEO of Barnsley CVS, said: “It’s beenso exciting to hear all the young people’s plans and to see their creativityand enthusiasm. We’d like to express our thanks to the voluntary and communitygroups who have been giving their time to support the young people to thinkthrough their ideas, using their experience to help them make a reality.”
The winning projects were decided by our panel of Barnsley-basedjudges:
· Councillor Ashley Peace, Cabinet Spokespersonfor Children’s Services.
· David Sinclair, Centre Manager for The GlassWorks and Alhambra Shopping Centre.
· Joada Allen, Managing Director at Visualised Itand member of the Barnsley 2030 Board.
· Leonie Briggs, founder of Amazelab.
· Rafaela Costa, Youth Board member with YMCABarnsley.
Every submission for our ‘Ambition Arena’ had to align withone of the five priorities of the GreatChildhoods Ambition: belong, connect, dream, explore and grow.
We will share more information about the winning projects,including how communities can get involved with our ‘Ambition Arena’activities, this summer.
Last year, Barnsley CVS received funding from the GreatChildhoods Ambition programme to distribute to VCSE groups across Barnsley tooffer provision for young people.
Part of this funding was reserved to allocate specificallyto projects that young people could apply for, leading to the creation of the‘Ambition Arena’, with the rest being allocated directly to local groupsthrough the GreatChildhoods Ambition Community Fund.
We’re excited to be bringing together local organisationsand community partners, including Barnsley CVS, together next month for our fun,free family celebration marking one year of Barnsley’s Great ChildhoodsAmbition.
Taking place on Saturday 28 March in The Glass Works Square,learn more about our Great Childhoods Ambition celebration event by visiting ourdedicated webpage.
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