A project that improves children and young people’s wellbeing in Brighton & Hove through culture has been shortlisted for a prestigious international award.
The ‘Our Future City’ programme focuses on enhancing the lives and life chances of children and young people through cultural engagement and development of creative skills.
The programme is being led by a consortium of local organisations including Brighton Dome & Festival and Brighton & Hove City Council.
It has been designed and shaped by local children and young people, working with professionals from health, social services, local businesses, creative industries, education and culture.
The programme is backed with more than £1m funding from Arts Council England, Artswork, partners’ budgets and other fundraising
It’s expected to help more than 6,000 children and young people in the city over the next 10 years.
The project has been shortlisted for the EUROCITIES awards, due to be presented at a ceremony in Edinburgh at the end of November.
Brighton & Hove is one of nine European cities shortlisted for an award, and is in the ‘Participation’ category along with Frankfurt and Oulu (Finland).
Council leader Dan Yates said: “Brighton & Hove has an incredibly creative history, and it’s really important that our creative future is secured.
“That’s why we want to invest in the future and invest in our young people – developing their own creative ideas and their own creative futures.”
Peter Chivers, head of Brighton & Hove Music & Arts, said: “We focus on developing cultural activities and engagement for children and young people.
“It’s about putting them at the heart of that and working as a collective, a movement, to support them."