Arts Council Funding - 2024

October 2024 – Awarded an Arts Council England National Lottery Grant for the Project; ‘A Glowing Tribute to Portsmouth’s Youth Hubs’ (@pompeyglowup) 

FIND US ON THE WE SHINE EVENT MAP HERE

Foursandeights are delivering a series of creative workshops and events that combine creativity, art and technology to shine a light on the city's youth clubs. Working with the Play, Youth & Community Team at Portsmouth City Council, the young people will be celebrating their communities and the belongingness felt in the youth spaces through the use of physical artforms as well as Augmented Reality. They will create and exhibit their work in an exciting immersive environment at the We Shine Festival next month.

The project has involved foursandeights visiting each of the five council-run youth clubs each night for several weeks, running creative workshops in the lead up to the event. Supplying art materials and technology to each hub to enhance the project and beyond.

Each venue will be hosting their own public exhibition, showing their work in pop-up spaces from 21-23 November 2024 as part of Portsmouth Creates, ‘We Shine’ Festival. Participants will be aged 11+ and attend youth clubs in the city.

We’re really excited about this project and working with local youth clubs in the city. We’ve both grown up in Portsmouth and are now raising our young family here. Working with these awesome young people really means a lot to us and giving them access to creative skills, materials and technology is something we really hope will benefit them in lots of ways. We would’ve loved this project as a kid growing up in Pompey. We can’t wait to see them exhibit their work in November and celebrate their local areas from Portsea to Paulsgrove. This project was made possible thanks to funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England

Cllr Darren Sanders, Cabinet Member for Housing and Tackling Homelessness at Portsmouth City Council, said: "What a great opportunity for the young people in our youth clubs to create something unique and be part of this special city-wide event. I'm so pleased we are able to work with Foursandeights to offer chances to young people who may not otherwise have access to arts programmes and create their own art. This project will go a long way to help our goal of building a generation of confident young adults who are equipped for the future."

Photography Credit: Manon Hardcastle (@manonaitch)

Project feedback:

“Both the young people and staff at the youth centre loved both taking part in the glow up, We Shine project but also getting to know and interacting with Marie weekly. Often, we are introduced to projects where the artist or person running does not understand youth work or the young people that attend the centre. Except, this project was completely the opposite, Marie engaged, laughed with and chatted to our young people, who some, can present with turbulent behaviour due to different ACEs they have experienced in their life. The young people are missing Marie's presence. The project was delivered in a truly lovely way, really homing in and focusing on the young people's views and voice within their community. We have used this project to have wider discussions around the rights and wrongs within the community and empowered us to have some very effective conversations around safety within the community- something that is very prominent at the moment. Lastly, and arguably the most important in my opinion, is that this project  brought the whole youth centre together, I loved seeing young people engage who would not normally get involved with art- supporting inclusivity and diversity within our setting! Thank you so much Marie, we hope there's more opportunities to work with you again in the future.” - Youth Centre Manager

“I’ve really enjoyed being a part of the Pompey glow up project. It’s been amazing to see the young people respond so well to the project and really throwing themselves into it. The young people have really enjoyed being part of a team in order to create a piece that came alive via AR and to quote so many of the young people it was ‘sick’ to see so many amazed faces when it all came together in the UV booth. I was lucky enough to work during Pompey glow up project at the BYAC site and just loved seeing not only the young people who created the art but also the public’s reactions. Fours and eights have been amazing working with the young people and have really understood how to interact with the young people In order to get the best out of them. We can’t wait to hopefully work on more projects in the future” - Youth Worker

“I really enjoyed drawing the art and seeing it come together all lit up outside” - Aged 12

“It was awesome” - Aged 11

“It thought it was amazing, I loved making a postcard and seeing it glow in the cube under the UV light” - Aged 11

“I thought it was cool and amazing. I liked using the glowing pens and seeing my art come alive” - Age 14

“I liked doing this because it was fun and I liked the way all the stuff moved every time you used the app” - Aged 14

“I thought it was a 10/10” - Aged 14

“I thought it was illuminating, I was mesmerised when it all came to life using the AR” - Aged 15

“It was so different and I enjoyed the 3D AR effect. I really liked being a part of the project from the making of the art to the final product in the cube. I really enjoyed doing the post cards and going in the booth to see all the different animations” - Aged 13

“I really enjoyed being a part of Pompey glow up. I enjoyed all the drawing and colouring” - Age 12

“We have worked with artists over the years but sometimes the artists don’t understand the nature of the work but Marie did just that and worked well with the young people. It was amazing to see all the young people’s hard work come together for everyone to enjoy” - Youth worker