Arts Lab Improves Young People's Wellbeing

A creative wellbeing programme for young people in Cornwall is celebrating significant achievements as it concludes its third year, publishing an impressive impact report.

“Arts Lab” connects groups of young people with artists to co-produce creative activities that support their health and happiness.

Delivered in partnership between Arts Well UK CIC, Creative Kernow and HeadStart Kernow, Arts Lab improves mental health and wellbeing in 10 to 16-year-olds, delivering a vast range of creative interventions in youth settings.

This year’s impact report is now live, highlighting continued high intervention levels with great success: 1100 young people took part across 242 workshops delivered by 56 artists and supported by 166 staff from the young people’s settings - 2 Special Educational Needs and Disabilities schools, 9 youth services, 13 primary schools, 13 secondary schools/colleges, 2 alternative provisions and 3 mental/physical health providers.

The programme provided a diversity of creative opportunities for young people including dance/movement, filming, design, batik wax, complex sequencing, stop motion animation and willow construction; as well as everyday skills and knowledge such as breathing for calmness, conflict resolution, gross motor coordination and leadership.

85% of young people’s staff who fed back referenced their groups as having support needs and/or mental health challenges, including ADHD, autism, PMLD, low self-esteem, anxiety, depression and self-harm; with 100% of staff who fed back feeling that Arts Lab projects had a positive impact on young people’s wellbeing

Feedback from young people was overwhelmingly positive, evidencing that many young people discovered new forms of self-expression and ways to support their positive mental health through the creative activity:

Projects created moments for the young people to connect with each other and their community, cultivating feelings of belonging.

Young people said: “[I learnt] that despite having anxiety and level 2 ASD that I could still belong…I made a lot of friends. It made me feel better... It was like therapy but in school. It was amazing, and I finally felt accepted.

Young people were able to develop their creative skills and awareness, which generated multiple benefits: “I think it was positive for my creativity and expanded my imagination…I enjoyed thinking about my own world and thinking about how the game mechanics might work for it… The craziness of it. The freedom to draw!... It was very creative. I loved this and I’m going to do it for my GCSE Art.”

Workshops were located across Cornwall, from St Just and Penzance to Bude and Torpoint, with 52.5% taking place in the 1st - 3rd most deprived deciles of the UK (Index of Multiple Deprivation, 2019, CDRC).

With the young people’s interests as a starting point, Arts Lab matched groups with local professional artists, delivering projects that prioritised: using the ‘5 Ways to Wellbeing’ framework as tools to improve mental health and resilience (Connect, Be Active, Notice, Keep Learning, Give); co-designing between the artist and young people; having some connection or visibility in the young people’s local community; and addressing an obvious need within the young people’s group.

Izzy Bianchini, Arts Lab Programme Manager (Creative Kernow) said:

“Having completed its third year, Arts Lab has become an established programme with solid roots, celebrating the young people we have in Cornwall and impact of creativity on their wellbeing. Year 1 focussed on the need for connection, expression and enhanced wellbeing through creative exploration; whilst year 2 highlighted the power of the arts as a tool for ALL young people to regulate, articulate and cooperate, regardless of their identities and experiences. Year 3 has demonstrated the continued need for creative wellbeing projects for young people who are experiencing many forms of challenges affecting their mental and emotional wellbeing.

Izzy continued: “Our 2024 impact report captures the positive outcomes that Arts Lab achieves directly with young people and the opportunities provided for teachers and youth leaders to work with professional artists, giving them insights into new ways to communicate with and inspire their young people.”

Jayne Howard, Director for Arts Well UK CIC said:

“Arts Lab has continued to flourish into its third year of programming and continued to make a strong case for creative health interventions; they have been highly impactful, providing powerful bursts of activity that inspire young people, support their skills and help them to build better relationships with themselves, each other and the world. There is a clear mental and emotional health need amongst young people in Cornwall for fun, connection and exploration, and Arts Lab enables a bespoke wellbeing programme to address this.

Jayne continued: “The hope is that this creative intervention approach will be useful for others, whilst our ambition now is for Arts Lab to become financially secure. It is cost-effective, with lean management costs thanks to the pool of talented freelance artists who make up the delivery team.  Our aim for Year 4 is to secure funding beyond July 2025 when our current funding comes to an end, so that the programme can continue to connect, inspire and boost young people in Cornwall through creativity. In the meantime, we are delighted to share our impact report, illustrating the wonderful achievements of young people in Cornwall in a wide range of creative pursuits.”

Cllr Barbara Ellenbroek, cabinet member for children and families at Cornwall Council, said:

“HeadStart Kernow continues to drive innovation that supports the emotional wellbeing of children and young people, and we are excited about new Arts Lab projects as we embark on year four of the programme.” 

Arts Lab launched in 2022 with continued funding from Public Health Cornwall, and project specific funding from the Cornwall Community Foundation and the council’s resettlement service.

Captured on film, 2022 and 2023 Arts Labs can be seen here https://feastcornwall.org/arts-lab/arts-lab-year-1-2022/ whilst this 3-minute film illustrates the creative brilliance of young people in Cornwall - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV1FzKp7i0k

For more information and to see the full report visit https://feastcornwall.org/arts-lab/arts-lab-year-3/