The aim of the Six Pillars project is to support the emotional health and wellbeing of young people, aged 11-18, in six communities across Bolsover district and North East Derbyshire.  We are supporting young people to build life-long skills, create new friendships and improve confidence to become the six pillars to their own positive self-esteem and healthy futures, exploring volunteer opportunities and career pathways.

The project will see young people come together throughout a series of artistic taster activities, workshops and residencies in 2023 involving exciting and diverse artforms, chosen by the young people themselves. From painting in VR, puppetry, filmmaking and storytelling, the new work created through each residency will be brought together in spring 2024 through performance, film or exhibition.

So far we have been working in a number of secondary schools in key areas delivering creative after school workshops, we also ran a schedule of summer holiday workshops in Bolsover, Clowne, Dronfield and Clay Cross.  More information about their summer activity can be found here.

Project Coordinator Amy Smith said: ‘We know that the arts can make a real difference to young peoples’ lives and we want to provide young people with the opportunity to make their own decisions and create their own unique creative experiences. Together we will build a platform for the voices and talents of the next generation to be heard and celebrated.

‘We have been lucky to work with some amazing young people so far, who have created some fantastic artworks, videos and animations, which will be showcased next year.’

Six Pillars is an arts and wellbeing programme, commissioned by Healthy North East Derbyshire Partnership and the Bolsover Partnership with funding from Derbyshire County Council. The Project is led by Junction Arts in partnership with Direct Education Business Partnership.

For anyone interested in finding out more about how you can get involved, please email: sixpillars@junctionarts.org or call: 01246 209219