Culture Fund 2023-2024 Case Study: The Connect Project

Initially we canvassed our young people about what ‘Culture’ meant to them to get their engagement with activities planned for their benefit over the year.  The results mainly fell into 3 categories; Learning about other cultures, mainly Japanese culture as quite a few had an interest there, Orkney heritage “old stuff around Orkney” and Orkney crafts.

We invited a person from the Orkney Japan Association to visit and she held a planning session with a group of our young people to list the things related to Japanese culture they could participate in.  Through that the young people planned a talk on Japanese culture, a sushi making experience, linocut and block printing, VR Headset visits to Sakura festival in Tokyo, Japanese drumming, planning a Japanese garden, Japanese language lessons and we linked with the Tensai art group in Japan online.

We had excursions to heritage sites, Ring of Brodgar, Skara Brae, Standing Stones of Stenness and the Barnhouse Settlement with the expertise of a Ranger as guide on occasion. Visit to Skaill house and Falconry

With the Orkney crafts we were able to do nature printing at Soulisquoy in Stromness, a group learned Orkney straw techniques to upcycle a dining chair from Restart to an Orkney straw backed chair.

There is a long term benefit to the health and wellbeing of our young people having access to quality provision of opportunities that they would not usually have access to. As well as expanding their knowledge on the specific areas they were involved in there was a great deal of secondary learning such as travelling by bus for the first time, working in a team, communicating with new people or being able to manage a new situation that will benefit them in the long-term.

We are already very aware that learning in one area does have additional benefits which are sometimes unexpected.  For example one young person was collected by their carer after the sushi making session who was amazed that they had been able to try a range of new foods as they have insisted on a very restricted, and unhealthy, diet at home for years. This has led to a small consistent improvement in eating and being willing to try increasing their food range and quantity.

Engaging with the arts and culture in general is not just for the more creatively inclined young people.  We had quite a few young people who connected with the opportunities with doubt or hesitation and found pride and pleasure in the work they created.  Contact from a parent let us know how pleased a young person was with their creation, another asked their parent to contact us to make sure we had remembered to drop their work off as they were so keen to show their family. Another was visiting sites in mainland Orkney for the first time as they live on a ferry linked island and despite living in Orkney they felt a connection to this heritage for the first time. A parent was amazed to see photos of their child smiling so much and engaging with an activity after so long struggling with debilitating anxiety.

Engaging with others and feeling part of an accepting group has a long term benefit for the individual and wider community but when this can be added to giving them access to opportunities and resources it massively improves their confidence and skills making them more able to manage changes, become more resilient, connected and social. This is something we will continue to pursue and offer whenever we get the chance.