North West Cultural Education Summit
June 6, 2023
The Power of Words
June 16, 2023
Why engaging young people in heritage is key to levelling up
We are delighted to share the news of the publication of a new report examining the impact of young people's engagement with heritage.
The report Young People's Engagements with Hertage: Tackling Inequality & Other Opportunities for Public Policy is the result of a research initiative, commissioned by Historic England and conducted by Arts Connect and the Institute for Community Research and Development at the University of Wolverhampton.Curious Minds' Deputy CEO, Kelly Allen, was a member of the research Steering Group and we are proud to see our 5-year youth heritage project, Hope Streets, featured as one of the fieldwork case studies.
What the research looked at
Historic England wanted the research to investigate and report on the value and impact of young people’s engagements with heritage. Clear signs of increasing interest in heritage amongst young people, across informal and extracurricular settings (such as social media and in the street) had been observed, and existing evidence was thin with regard to the impact that a focus on heritage – especially outside of school – has in these areas.The UK Government’s Levelling Up agenda and a renewed focus on place, particularly those that are described as being ‘left behind’, gave this research additional urgency. It is hoped that the findings of this report will prove useful to those working as policymakers and practitioners in heritage and youth work.
A snapshot of the key findings
The report concluded that there is evidence for the following benefits:- Personal Development - Participation in heritage-based programmes contributes to multiple personal development outcomes for young people.
- Identity & Belonging - Place-based engagements with heritage offer unique opportunities for fostering identity and belonging; empowering young people to reinterpret and re-present the places where they live.
- Social Inclusion & Cohesion - Participation in heritage programmes can contribute to building strong cohesive communities.
- Tackling Regional Inequalities - Participation in heritage programmes can promote social mobility within ‘left behind' places, enabling the young people who live in these spaces to claim ownership over them and contribute towards their revival.
Learn more about this research
To mark its launch, the report's authors and researchers hosted a free launch webinar on 14th June 2023, at which they discussed it's findings.
Hear from speakers including:
- Dr Joshua Blamire and Dr James Rees from the Institute for Community Research & Development, University of Wolverhampton.
- Sandra Stancliffe, Head of Communities, Learning, Inclusion & Volunteering, at Historic England.
- Speakers from the young people’s heritage groups: Connecting with Yemeni Elders’ Heritage (Liverpool) and Blaze Arts (Burnley).
The research partners
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