What is BRIDGES?
Over the past year, Kettle’s Yard has led a project called BRIDGES, supported by The Mildred Fund. BRIDGES was designed to help connect young people with creativity, and in doing so, support their wellbeing, confidence, and sense of agency.
We have delivered activity with two groups: after school sessions at North Cambridge Academy (NCA) for young people aged 14 – 16 years, and a Young Artist Mentors (YAM) programme for ages 16 – 19 years based at Kettle’s Yard.
What have we done this year?
At NCA, we began working with an artist with an architectural practice, Jess Mulvey. We focussed on what and where we connect to through visual mapping, den building, space exploration and cultural trips out in Cambridge and London.
The students from North Cambridge Academy chose to explore the experience of being a teenage girl, what it feels like emotionally and socially, and how art might express that. The group then worked with artist Emily Stapleton-Jefferis to create artworks that explored being a teenage girl. With Emily, they experimented with many forms of making including clay, collage, bath bomb making, make-up, lino and mono-printmaking, and even shaving foam to marble paper. As a group for a final artwork, they created a set of postcards combining details of their artworks, with wellbeing advice that they wanted to share with the wider school community.
“Art makes me feel like I am something. And can be something.”
At Kettle’s Yard, the Young Artist Mentor programme offered 16 – 19 year olds space to explore their creative paths and build mentoring skills. We held sessions with artists, staff, and curators, and hosted an intensive making day to create a final outcome. The mentors shared how much it meant to be in a space that welcomed their whole selves. They gained confidence not just in their creativity but in their ability to connect with others. The group chose to create a manifesto zine for other young people inviting them to playfully find ways to be in galleries and art spaces.
“It gives me hope in my future… I feel connected to society through art.”
What did the group learn?
The work created was beautiful and important, in this project, but the process mattered more to the young people than the product. Again and again, the young people said what was most valuable to them was the creation of a creative community and safe space with no pressure, no grades, and no right way to make art. Just a creative offer with time, space, snacks, music, and the chance to play with materials. For many of the older students, the workshops at Kettle’s Yard were the only time in the week they felt calm or able to fully express themselves. We saw friendships bloom, self-doubt soften, and voices grow more assured.
What’s next for BRIDGES?
Year 2 of BRIDGES will continue in a similar vein. Our one major change is the participants aspirations for the outcomes to become more ambitious. Our goal is that the young people create something that can be shared and enjoyed by the wider community, creating bridges for more people to enjoy creativity and culture. The young people told us they want to paint walls, build sculptures, and create something bold and public that says: we are here, and we have something to say.
We are thrilled to welcome a new artist to the project, Maraid McKewan, a sculptor and artist whose practice explores storytelling, materiality, and the emotional life of objects. Maraid brings a beautiful sensitivity to working with young people, and we’re excited to see how her work with sculpture will give the group new ways to think, feel, and create.
At its heart, BRIDGES is about art as a tool to support wellbeing, to create and explore. The young people made that clear: “I feel like I got to be messy… without consequences or judgement.” This project reminded us of what happens when creativity isn’t a luxury, but an important part of the week. We can’t wait to see where it takes us next.
About BRIDGES
Learning & Community at Kettle's Yard
