In partnership with the global, multi-awarded Design For Change movement and funded by Arts Council Northern Ireland.

Saturdays, July 12th, 22nd, 29th, Aug 12th - 10:00 - 2:30, Oh Yeah Music Centre, Belfast
During the summer of 2023 we were delighted to offer  'Art For Change' an Arts Council Northern Ireland (ACNI) funded programme for 25 youth with our partners Caidre Community Choir, Beyond Skin, Sudanese Youth Group, Northern Ireland Gujarati Community, ALGOCHAK, HAPANI at the Oh Yeah Music Centre. Art For Change was part of  the globally awarded Design For Change (DFC) movement, enabling children and youth to take action on issues affecting them. The DFC movement founded by Kiran Bir Sethi at the Riverside School in India, now present in + 70 countries is a winner of numerous education accolades. Design For Change Northern Ireland was launched in 2022.
Siobhan Brown Singer-songwriter, MOBI Awarded, founder of Manukahunney
Paul Kane  Musician, Facilitator, Founder of ACNI awarded OTH Music Collective
Phil D'Alton  Musician, Producer
Kelly Smiley, SInger, Facilitator
Nandi Jola Poet, Writer, Facilitator, ACNI awarded
Frank Rafferty Spoken Word Artist, Founder of ACNI awarded Bluebell Arts Derry
Stephanie Arnold Visual Artist, Founder of JamNIre
Mary McGurk Performing Artist

All youth who participate in the programme and develop an Art For Change story during the sessions (July 12, 22, 29, 10:00 - 2:30) and present it at the Showcase event on Aug 12 (12:00 - 3:00) become eligible to represent Northern Ireland at the I CAN Summit, Ahmedabad, India, Dec 2 - 3, 2023, which is part of our series of awesome annual global celebrations, bringing together youth leaders from across the world since 2012.
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Visit our I CAN Summit page for estimated costs and programme options. Based on the Art For Change stories shared at the showcase, we will work with programme partners and parents to seek funds/sponsorship to enable a group to represent Northern Ireland at this year's global celebration. 

Funded spaces for the summer programme
There are 25 ACNI funded spaces for youth from immigrant, refugee, ethnic minority, vulnerable and underserved backgrounds who are invited to sign up through our community partners - Caidre Community Choir, Beyond Skin, GEMS NI/Donegall Pass Community Centre, JamNIre, the Sudanese Youth Group and the Northern Ireland Gujarati Community.

Paid spaces at the summer programme
We have 20 paid spaces @£140 per youth for local businesses to provide corporate social responsibility/employee volunteerism sponsorship OR for parents who can pay for their children to join this unique opportunity over the summer. We have used this model in South Africa from 2016 to successfully bring together young people from a range of social backgrounds to make connections and work on projects with peers who they rarely interacted with previously. 

We also invite teachers, youth workers and corporate social responsibility managers to join and get a hands-on experience of Design For Change within the Art for Change context. There are 10 spaces available @£160 per person or £40 per day. 
Registration opens: June 16th 
Registration closes: June 29th for funded spaces |  July 8th for paid spaces
We are seeking sponsorships for tea/coffee/juice, biscuits/tray bake or sandwiches/pizza type refreshments for the 3 labs as well as at the showcase event. Write to [email protected] and the team at [email protected] if you can assist.  

Visit the website and watch the videos to know more about the global Design For Change movement.

The Art For Change Programme

Art for Change will empower young people (12 - 18 years) in/from Northern Ireland to:
  • express their views about issues affecting their mental health and the consequent mental health challenges they face 
  • learn self-reflection and positive affirmation strategies for self-care that help them nurture their mental health
  • learn Design Thinking strategies to take action on an issue affecting their mental health through an art medium of their choice
  • develop skills in chosen art media
  • publicly share their art work to lead social action by encouraging audience response, action and involvement to further address the issue

The in-person contact times are July 15th, 22nd and 29th (10:00 - 14:30) at the Oh Yeah Music Centre.  Participants get access to a private group prior to the first in-person session that they will use in between sessions to continue engaging with their groups, with the supervision of artist-teachers, coordinators and parents.

During the Art For Change sessions, youth from each partner organisation and artist-teachers and artist-assistants, will use the 4 Design Thinking steps (Feel, Imagine, Do, Share - FIDS) with added mindfulness strategies in the REFLECT step to develop self-awareness through self-reflection and positive affirmations throughout the programme. 

FEEL July 15th - 22nd 
  • hear about/discuss how artistic expression helps artists/youth to take care of their wellbeing
  • identify an issue affecting them and recognise the impact it is having on their mental health
  • explore a range of art media that they can potentially choose to use to take action on the issue
  • form groups with other young people drawn to similar issues that they wish to address in their local community through a chosen art media

IMAGINE  July 22nd - 29th
  • brainstorm art-based solutions to address the issue, improve their mental health and to spark community involvement/response to the issue 
  • explore a range of artistic ideas that communicate their chosen message 

DO July 22nd - Aug 12th
  • design and implement action plans to address chosen issue in chosen art media 
  • create art in their chosen media, share it in their local community and document impact/audience response in terms of addressing the core issue they were driven by

SHARE  July 29th - Aug 12
  • write /document their stories of change (photos/videos)
  • publish their story on I CAN Challenge.platform and join the global DFC movement to become eligible to represent NI at the I CAN Summit in India in December (separate funding required to attend)
  • prepare presentations for the Art For Change 
  • present their artwork and Art for Change story at our showcase event, Aug 12, 12:00 - 15:00. This will be a ticketed pay-what-you-can event (£0 - £15) with proceeds supporting our ongoing 'Songs For Sudan' initiative and further Art For Change programmes.  
Benefits of the programme 

I CAN Northern Ireland School Challenge

When learners submit their story of change, they stand a chance to be chosen as a student ambassador to represent their country at the annual Be The Change Conference, organised by DFC. They also stand a chance of their story of change being showcased in videos and the yearly I CAN publications - a collection of stories from around the world-stories of children leading change.

Be The Change Celebrations and I CAN Summit 2023

Organized annually, the Be The Change (BTC) Celebrations provides our young super heroes from across the world the platform to showcase their stories of change. The celebrations honours and recognizes the young agents of change for their courage and determination to change the world around them. As the celebrations bring together young change agents across the world, giving them the opportunity to not just share their stories but at the same time learn from each other- the atmosphere at the celebrations is one that generates positivity, inspires & motivates every participant, celebrates and honours our young student leaders. Thus, creating a sense of possibility of the changes that our children can bring about in the world.
References

- DFC website: http://www.dfcworld.com/
- Stories of change: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUU-iMF3jNjSSMunJiXngniuN4ZlHnN0b