Inspire Youth Arts go digital

Inspire Youth Arts (IYA) in normal circumstances delivers a range of Music, Dance and Digital projects from its Mansfield base (The Old Library), and across the whole of Nottinghamshire, which are a mixture of workshops, events, installations and showcases. We usually reach and engage 1,500-2,000 young people in a normal calendar year.

When Inspire went into lockdown we immediately cancelled all face-to-face delivery and put all our efforts into creating an online service which has been hugely successful and well-received by young people, youth organisations and artists.

We have also contributed to, and delivered within, two digital festivals (Nottsopping and Upload) and created and released content for Learning Disability Week.

The challenges have been massive in terms of using new technologies such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams, both to staff and young people. We have also had to examine safeguarding and GDPR to ensure a safe working platform for young people and arts staff.

We have also introduced a new digital music platform called Soundtrap which is proving very effective.

Below are just some of the stats that round up our online engagement so far along with some quotes from people who have taken part;