‘Reach In Reach Out’ (RIRO) was a creative volunteering and wellbeing project that brought together young people, artists, creative producers, and researchers across four sites and seven organisations in the West of England from 2022-2024.

Mixit gives young people positive skills and experiences to enrich their lives. It helps increase confidence, self-expression and communication skills. Mixit runs a core programme with a regular weekly Saturday creative session and an annual summer project that takes place in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, and uses a range of performing arts based creative disciplines, including dance, drama, music and aerial circus.

Arts & Health South West
Director & Project Co-Lead: Alex Coulter
Project Co-Lead & Evaluator: 
Dr Julia Puebla Fortier
Project Coordinator: Deborah Miles
Co-production Advisor: Hannah Mumby
Young Community Researchers: 
Ella Burns, Shannon Humphries, and Rebecca Voropaeff
Arts & Health South West

Director & Project Co-Lead: Alex Coulter | Project Co-Lead & Evaluator: 
Dr Julia Puebla Fortier | Project Coordinator: Deborah Miles | Co-production Advisor: Hannah Mumby | Young Community Researchers: Ella Burns, Shannon Humphries, and Rebecca Voropaeff

With artists, cultural producers, and young people from:

The Holburne Museum and Creativity Works (Bath & North East Somerset)

creativeShift and John Wesley’s New Room (Bristol)

Super Culture (Weston-super-Mare)

The Culture Health and Wellbeing Alliance

With artists, cultural producers, and young people from:

Each Mixit project brings on board a wide range of collaborators, including leading artists from New Zealand who work with Mixit youth leaders to facilitate projects.

Expanded Summary:

Reach In Reach Out’ (RIRO) was a creative volunteering and wellbeing project that brought together young people, artists, creative producers, and researchers across four sites and seven organisations in the West of England from 2022-2024. Funded by Art Council England’s Volunteering Futures Fund and The National Lottery Heritage Fund, RIRO had a budget of £200,000. This supported:

• five delivery partners (whose spending ranged from £7,000 to £40,000 over the two years)

• overall RIRO project management, project evaluation and toolkit development by Arts & Health South West

• Dissemination activities with the Culture Health and Wellbeing Alliance.

The aim of the project was to offer creative activities for young people aged 16-25, that supported their wellbeing and helped them develop and use skills for cultural volunteering in a variety of cultural institutions and community settings. The project was structured as a two-phase process:

The Unexpected:

The stated aim of the grant fund was to support young people and people who experience barriers to volunteering, to build their skills, well-being and social networks through volunteering. We initially thought to create a programme that would attract a large number of people. Instead, we realised that the real value was in creating a long-term, relational, and supportive experience for a smaller group of people who struggled with a variety of health and psychosocial conditions that had made it difficult to fully participate in community life. Building these trust relationships required intense and often personal engagement from artists and staff. Creating truly accessible environments and activities involved careful experimentation and adaptation. Creative and cultural production skills development had to be carefully scaffolded over time to build confidence and a sense of ownership. In the context of continual co-creation, the young people described these efforts to meet their needs and interests as demonstrating a deep level of care for them and their growth as individuals and artists.

Changes in wellbeing among the young people were both drivers and benefits of their creative and volunteer engagement. Over time they grew in confidence socially and creatively. They became more comfortable with each other and with a range of creative activities, making requests for new experiences. They began to see the purpose of their creative activity beyond a leisure activity and started taking the initiative in generating creative ideas and planning events.

OUTCOME:

Across the five sites, the young people learned a wide variety of creative techniques and skills in designing and delivering culture events and exhibitions. The artists and cultural institutions gained valuable experience in working with the creative and contemporary energy of young people and found ways to integrate ongoing co-creation approaches into their organisational structures.

For many of the young people, who struggled with a variety of physical and social challenges, these gains were transformative. Some found that stepping out of their comfort zone and participating in public events was not as hard as they imagined, and doing so boosted their confidence. Over time, they felt much more free and able to speak with their own voice and show up as their full selves, with more humour and less seriousness, and their confidence in their abilities increased. Some of the other psychosocial benefits noted were:

• Transcending accessibility challenges and isolation

• Learning to self-regulate in sessions with group support

• Developing social awareness and supporting each other

• Developing confidence in new skills and social engagement

• Learning to articulate preferences and take initiative

RESOURCES

Learnings from the RIRO are captured in an online toolkit and are available through in-person and online trainin trainings and consultation. Further details at:

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