Front cover exposure for Soft Touch - April 2010
A photo from our Arrived! project was selected as the image to go on the
cover of a new publication co-authored by one of Soft Touch’s voluntary
directors. ‘Europe’s Established and Emerging Communities: assimilation,
multiculturalism or integration’ is edited by Carlton Howson and Momodou
Sallah and it published by Trentham Books www.trentham-books.co.uk
The Arrived! magazine will be appearing in our shop during April 2010.
Funding success - April 2010
Soft Touch has been successful in securing funding from Connexions LeicesterShire for a two-year project with teenage mums and mums to be. We will be working with the young women to develop arts and crafts and enterprise skills. The project now has a name and it is: SHE-Stylers - follow progress in Current projects: SHE-Stylers
Soft Touch has been successful in securing funding from Connexions LeicesterShire for a two-year project with teenage mums and mums to be. We will be working with the young women to develop arts and crafts and enterprise skills. The project now has a name and it is: SHE-Stylers - follow progress in Current projects: SHE-Stylers
Congratulations Ali! - May 2010
Ali Agayev is a talented artist from Azerbaijan who Soft Touch have been supporting. Ali’s picture of Leicester Market has been being voted by the public as the best painting in a competition sponsored by Gadesby’s to coincide with Leicester Market’s Artisan Festival, which took place on 25 April 2009. Ali specialises in portrait painting and runs weekly classes for adults at Age Concern and the Independent Arts Centre, both on Humberstone Gate, Leicester.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/elibrother/
Ali Agayev is a talented artist from Azerbaijan who Soft Touch have been supporting. Ali’s picture of Leicester Market has been being voted by the public as the best painting in a competition sponsored by Gadesby’s to coincide with Leicester Market’s Artisan Festival, which took place on 25 April 2009. Ali specialises in portrait painting and runs weekly classes for adults at Age Concern and the Independent Arts Centre, both on Humberstone Gate, Leicester.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/elibrother/
First group of young people achieve their Creative Team Award - May 2010
Congratulations to the first group of 10 young people to achieve their Soft
Touch Creative Team Award. The Awards were signed off by NCFE, the
accrediting body, during a visit to Soft Touch on May 13. Lynda Knott, NCFE
external moderator, said:
"The centre is offering learning in a very unique
style and is working well to meet the needs of these very challenged
young people. The resources to carry out the practical skills are of good
quality and the learners are encouraged to approach their tasks in a
professional and responsible manner"
Click here for more information about
the Creative Team Award.
FIRST YEAR OF MASH-UP A BIG SUCCESS
MASH-UP has been providing positive activities for young people in Leicester
since summer 2009, with a focus on the west of the city on Friday and
Saturday nights. The take up has been fantastic, far exceeding our
expectations - 341 young people took part in the nine months to March 2010.
Here are some highlights from our evaluation of the first nine months of
MASH-UP:
341 young people engaged in positive creative activities through a
combination of street and building based activities on Friday and Saturday
nights mainly focused in on the New Parks estate.
Of 78 young people we tracked in detail, 71 (91%) showed a marked increase
in their confidence and skills and developed new aspirations and 79%
developed and improved their relationships with others.
Of the 10 young people who were known to be at risk of offending, 9 (90%)
did not re-offend.
The full year one report is available for download here.
MASH-UP has been providing positive activities for young people in Leicester
since summer 2009, with a focus on the west of the city on Friday and
Saturday nights. The take up has been fantastic, far exceeding our
expectations - 341 young people took part in the nine months to March 2010.
Here are some highlights from our evaluation of the first nine months of
MASH-UP:
341 young people engaged in positive creative activities through a
combination of street and building based activities on Friday and Saturday
nights mainly focused in on the New Parks estate.
Of 78 young people we tracked in detail, 71 (91%) showed a marked increase
in their confidence and skills and developed new aspirations and 79%
developed and improved their relationships with others.
Of the 10 young people who were known to be at risk of offending, 9 (90%)
did not re-offend.
The full year one report is available for download here.
News items for Summer 2009 to Summer 2010 (300k pdf)
We’ve made the Skills Pledge! - July 2010
We are happy to announce that Soft Touch Arts has taken the Skills Pledge. This is a voluntary, public commitment made by organisations to invest in the skills of its workforce. It’s a promise that through training, productivity and efficiency we will improve and realise the potential of our staff, volunteers and board members by developing their basic skills and working towards relevant, valuable qualifications.
Skills pledge website: https://skillspledge.broadsystem.com/Home.aspx
We are happy to announce that Soft Touch Arts has taken the Skills Pledge. This is a voluntary, public commitment made by organisations to invest in the skills of its workforce. It’s a promise that through training, productivity and efficiency we will improve and realise the potential of our staff, volunteers and board members by developing their basic skills and working towards relevant, valuable qualifications.
Skills pledge website: https://skillspledge.broadsystem.com/Home.aspx
Young people start their own project - July 2010
Creative Young New Parks (CYNP) is a project based at Hand in Hand in New Parks which has been started up by two young people who have been attending Soft Touch’s MASH-UP programme as Creative Mentors and volunteers.
Here’s what the young people say about their project:
The young people running it have been learning mentoring skills for some time, so they, and other local groups and freelancers, can deliver creative arts projects to other local young people. The areas covered will be music production, video production, animation, art and fashion, with a view to expanding onto DJ-ing and maybe more in the future.
All young people involved will have a big say in how the project is run. The mentors will respond positively to feedback, and the young people will also decide on which workers they feel are best suited to run and help out on the projects. They will also get a say on what projects they want to do and how it should all be promoted.
The benefits of the project, and having young people so closely involved, is that the young people will not only learn skills in many areas of creative arts, but entrepreneurial, communication, and technical skills. These skills will give them a good platform in life, as well as a stepping-stone to discovering and achieving goals.
The project has already started at Hand In Hand in New Parks, which is where it is permanently based, and is open to all local young people aged 13-19. We already have a Mac with music production software installed, which is attached to a mixer so that people can make their own music. We are also using this to try to make a pod cast radio show with the young people already involved. We are soon to be getting equipment and software for photography, video making, animation and fashion which we will then use in a project where the young people can record a track, design some clothes, and then make a music video. We will also be getting a Macbook so we don’t have to make everybody use one machine.
The project is funded by the Youth Opportunity Funding. We already have strong links with Soft Touch Arts, who run their Mash Up programme in New Parks as well as other projects around the county; Leicester Community Music Project (LCMP), who have successfully ran some projects from Hand In Hand previously; and the New Parks Library, who have a range of excellent facilities which we have a view to using in the future.
Creative Young New Parks (CYNP) is a project based at Hand in Hand in New Parks which has been started up by two young people who have been attending Soft Touch’s MASH-UP programme as Creative Mentors and volunteers.
Here’s what the young people say about their project:
The young people running it have been learning mentoring skills for some time, so they, and other local groups and freelancers, can deliver creative arts projects to other local young people. The areas covered will be music production, video production, animation, art and fashion, with a view to expanding onto DJ-ing and maybe more in the future.
All young people involved will have a big say in how the project is run. The mentors will respond positively to feedback, and the young people will also decide on which workers they feel are best suited to run and help out on the projects. They will also get a say on what projects they want to do and how it should all be promoted.
The benefits of the project, and having young people so closely involved, is that the young people will not only learn skills in many areas of creative arts, but entrepreneurial, communication, and technical skills. These skills will give them a good platform in life, as well as a stepping-stone to discovering and achieving goals.
The project has already started at Hand In Hand in New Parks, which is where it is permanently based, and is open to all local young people aged 13-19. We already have a Mac with music production software installed, which is attached to a mixer so that people can make their own music. We are also using this to try to make a pod cast radio show with the young people already involved. We are soon to be getting equipment and software for photography, video making, animation and fashion which we will then use in a project where the young people can record a track, design some clothes, and then make a music video. We will also be getting a Macbook so we don’t have to make everybody use one machine.
The project is funded by the Youth Opportunity Funding. We already have strong links with Soft Touch Arts, who run their Mash Up programme in New Parks as well as other projects around the county; Leicester Community Music Project (LCMP), who have successfully ran some projects from Hand In Hand previously; and the New Parks Library, who have a range of excellent facilities which we have a view to using in the future.