Making For Change

Earlier this year I worked on Making For Change, a social acition training programme for 16 - 25 year olds run by Craftspace in Birmingham. Using presentations, exhibition visits, discussions and lots of making, participants leant how to tackle social justice issues culminating in making-based social action campaigns led by the group. It was my job to interpret the different campaigns and produce illustrated postcards to promote and support their ideas.

As the group were working through various activities and themes with different practitioners throughout the week, this posed the tricky task of allowing them time to develop their ideas throughout the week, but also outlining the project in quite a solidified way in time to get the designs sent to the printers ready to present at their showcase event on Friday evening. It was a pleasure to see the campaigns evolve as the group tried new techniques, and I was very dedicated to staying true to their ideas whilst giving them a professional output to be proud of.

The beauty of the campaigns was that they highlighted what mattered to the participants; with ideas as unique as young people themselves. Simple D-I-Y activities encouraged people to come together to understand better each other, throw off stereotypes and labels, and also care for the world that we are all a part by caring for the environment. This process was really inspiring, and led to varied, thought-provoking outcomes to work with.



Overall Making For change was a huge challenge, but the young people worked incredibly hard and together the result was 6 campaigns consolidated into 3 colourful postcard designs ready for them to put out into the world, extending the reach of their ideas beyond the final event, which drew a crowd all ready to enjoy a night of learning new skills whilst discovering ways of making positive change in their communities. For more information about the project visit makingforchange.craftspace.co.uk or follow @CraftspaceYouth on twitter.