When I walked into the building I was greeted with funky green walls which suit the creative and innovative environment here at Future Arts. Comfy new sofas welcome visitors so they have somewhere to sit when they arrive, and digital picture frames proudly display photos from over the years which showcase the people that are part of the team. New rugs, lamps, and tables fill the office, freshening up the place and keeping it stylish.

No one would ever say that Future Arts is boring now that when you walk downstairs there are unmissable lilac and yellow walls. We also now have a room designated for youth training which was a much needed installment. Many other changes have taken place downstairs, such as new floors in the kitchen and new locks on the doors, which makes me really look forward to working in the office when all these changes are complete.

Our aim in creating these 6 month term employment opportunities was to give new and upcoming creatives a chance to bridge the gap between unemployment and finding their first job role. It allowed them to train through various coaching and tutorial workshops, while at the same time gaining experience by working on live client projects and ultimately increasing their portfolios.

One of the most rewarding aspects of the program has been that most, if not all employees, have gone onto bigger and better things. Either finding that first-time job in the creative industries or following a new path into further education.  But some of the most notable success stories are where we have seen some of our past employees go on and start up their own businesses.

We have now re-launched our new Future Services portfolio, showcasing two years of some truly amazing work. This is a collection of all the live client projects created by our graphic designers, web developers and multimedia producers.

Please visit www.futurearts.co.uk/services and take the time to browse through this collection of our work. It’s a great showcase and I’m really proud of all the staff that have contributed over the years. And on that note here’s a big thank you to the staff of Future Arts, past and present:

Future Jobs Fund — Wave 1
Laura McBride (Graphic Designer)
Laura Firbank (Graphic Designer)
Paul Chalis (Multimedia Producer)
Cherrie Chan (Multimedia Producer)
Sam Pependick (Web Developer)
Jay Wetherill (Web Developer)

Future Jobs Fund — Wave 2
Laura McBride (Graphic Design Coach/Graphic Designer)
Edward Neal (Graphic Designer)
Jennifer Appleton (Graphic Designer)
Robbie Richardson (Web Developer)
Stephen Garvani (Web Developer)
Nathan Jennings (Multimedia Producer)
Brahim Lkharrat (Multimedia Producer)

Future Jobs Fund — Wave 3
Laura McBride (Graphic Design Coach/Graphic Designer)
Emily Rose Clifton (Graphic Designer)
Hamish Cole (Multimedia Producer)
Thomas Williamson (Multimedia Producer)
Michael Hoskin (Multimedia Producer)
Joe Pagan (Web Developer)

Current Future Services employees
Sharon Leese (Graphic Designer)
Bethany Dalzell (Volunteer Graphic Designer)
Hamish Cole (Multimedia Producer)
Thomas Williamson (Multimedia Producer)
Michael Hoskin (Multimedia Producer)
Martin Toole (Web Developer)

—–
Tom Chapman
Creative Industries Coach / Senior Creative

At around 4:30, staff and volunteers arrived at Whitehall Waterfront to prepare for the event. There was no time to enjoy the captivating artwork as we hustled to put up signs, set up the bar, and brace ourselves for the arrival of the guests. Despite several setbacks, like not having correct name tags for everybody, the venue was prepared by 5:00 as guests started to arrive.

The friendly atmosphere before the speakers arrived set me at ease as guests enjoyed a complementary drink and began to mingle. There was a clear sense of camaraderie as I heard guests as well as staff discuss their business goals and aims. When Tom Riordan arrived everyone gathered into another room to listen to his insightful speech. Being the CEO of Leeds City Council it was political in nature but enjoyable as he spoke with insight and experience. After an opportunity for the guests to network, Sally-Anne Greenfield followed suit with a charismatic speech about the importance of social enterprise that had everybody captivated. Other speakers from Future Arts continued to inspire with touching accounts of the social return that businesses can enjoy from ethically buying products and services.

The highlight of the night was the performances from some of the Future Youth that have benefited from programmes and workshops provided by Future Arts. I was taken aback by the quality of these performances, and it was clear from the audience’s reactions that they too did not expect how talented these young performers were. This was the perfect conclusion to such an influential evening because it showed first hand how great the outcome can be when a business invests in the community.

Overall the evening was a great success, with guests having the opportunity to collaborate and experience the benefits that ethical buying can provide. The staff were in good spirits as guests began to slowly trickle out, leaving us to think back on the night.

After the misguided start I headed off to Kirkstall with my old man to capture the placard amongst the brooding ruins of the abbey. It was a pleasant experience as I got to visit parts of the abbey that weren’t always open to the public. To my surprise the abbey had a shared twitter account via @LeedsMuseums, and the pictures I uploaded were re-tweeted. It was the kick-start the campaign needed, and I was absolutely buzzing because it gave me ideas of where to go next.

Unfortunately I’ve not had the chance to take the placard to any more historic places yet. Then one afternoon I took the placard to Future Arts HQ for the first time. The building we’re based is not as old as the abbey, but it’s soon to be history when the demolition men move in. That thought didn’t knock my enthusiasm for the campaign and I was out promoting Future Arts that same afternoon. I had enjoyable visits to ‘igen’ and The Prince’s Trust, both of which have been great service to young people in this city. It was an honour to stand by people to make a difference in this city that afternoon.

For a short period of time the campaign ground to a halt and had to be revived from within. One afternoon Future Arts staff took photos of themselves with the placard and we were back on track, because a lot of us have Twitter. It was magical and what I’d like to think of as being the major turning point in the campaign as we made our presence known, as a result of this revival. Bigger plans were put in place that we’re now on the verge of executing.

But I’m an impatient waiter and I knew I just had to get the word out about Future Arts to more organisations in the city that weren’t aware of us. Thank goodness I did because Monday morning I discovered Café 164 which is not far from the Future Arts HQ. I look forward to going back some time to enjoy the drinks and food that they have on offer. Hopefully I can persuade the Future Arts crew to pop along with me for a get together. We could even do a café crawl around Leeds!

Eventually I found my way to the Leeds Visitor Centre where this campaign was welcomed with open arms. I can only hope that one day Future Arts will have a reach on Twitter as impressive as the staff at Visit Leeds do. It’s amazing how many people tweet to let Visit Leeds staff know which celebrities are roaming in our city. Hopefully in the near future we’ll be telling them about who’s just popped into Future Arts because we could do with some publicity!

The most majestic place the placard has graced so far has to be the Endless reception. I’ve always been intrigued by this company ever since I walked passed it for the first time last year. So it was an absolute privilege to finally be at the other side the windows for a change. Here’s to hoping that we’ll feature in their magazine soon, just like Create have done. It looks like we’re really going to have to earn our place though, rather than just be handed it. This is fine with me if that’s the case.

Finally I ended up at Waterstones because I saw them as the most approachable national retailers in the city centre, and that hunch turned out to be right. I’ve enjoyed every experienced I’ve ever had with Waterstones and promoting Future Arts within their store was no different. Overall It was the fitting end to a very busy Monday morning.

Damo

The job market is difficult in current climate and for me the whole situation was driving me crazy. With 1.04 million 18–24 year olds unemployed, actually getting a job interview was the hard bit. As someone who had worked from the age of 15, being unemployed I found mentally and physically straining. Even as someone who had a degree, I was finding it difficult, having applied for graduate programs and not getting anywhere was soul destroying, often being told that I was overqualified for positions I was keen to get into. To tell the truth depression took hold as the same routine dragged on for nearly three months. It was at this point that my mum suggested the wonderful world of volunteering, something I had done as a teen,  millennium volunteers,  but to which I hadn’t even thought about. My first instinct was to go to Voluntary Action Leeds and see precisely what they had to offer, I mean I’m not great with kids, animals, nature is a big no no, and sick people, well obviously I empathise with them but its not really me. I saw advertisement but the majority took, 3–4 weeks to process my application, could I survive that long? Seriously it seemed like a long draw out process. Three days or so later, an advertisement popped up on two places that had been watching, both advertising voluntary placements at Future Arts.

Future Arts, was somewhere that was different, it was somewhere that firstly I had never heard of, but who had a great website, yes I judged the place on the website. I have always been interested in digital media and was keen to get into event management and PR. Both of these were areas that Future Arts catered for. So I sent off my CV, and covering letter, I was keen to do this so I sent off a reference. Two days went by and nothing. So I e-mail them again, the next day I get a phone call, saying they were really sorry had been really busy and would I come for an induction the following Friday.

After my induction, I started the following Tuesday, I was a little frightened but the staff and other volunteers were so nice and even the young people were polite. I started on my first big task which would be planning an event for the launch of a new product. I was thrilled and as my time grew and my confidence grew, I received more responsibility. I felt like I was making a difference, and as the work towards the event veered off I wanted to help in other areas of the business such as administration and public relations. My experience at Future Arts was second to none, I had never worked anywhere where I felt that the work I was doing was making a difference to society as a whole.

If want to volunteer with Future Arts, please e-mail your CV and Cover letter to volunteers@futurearts.co.uk

I’m sure that Maria has plenty of appetite to do what is considered beneath the work-shy to complement her job as a disability minister. It won’t be long before we see her and the rest of the government taking up the thousands of zero-hours contract jobs that are out there, such as shelf-stacking, cleaning, serving coffee, or telemarketing and all the others that lay vacant. Doing these jobs will give the coalition more ammunition to achieve its ultimate dream of making unemployment a criminal offence.

Once that law has passed, the recently unemployed will be sent straight off to one of Emma Harrison’s A4e detention centres. Depending on how badly your unemployment circumstances are, you will be released after six months to do community work in supermarkets and if you’re lucky you’ll get a job at the end of it. However if you don’t perform brilliantly you will be sent back to one of Emma Harrison’s detention centres. Thomas O. Murton (American prison reformist) will be turning in his grave if he ever got to see the exploitation of criminals that goes on in these establishments. If only he was alive today to stop the horror that’s about to happen.

All I can do now is plan for an escape that is along the lines of the one portrayed in that brilliant film The Shawshank Redemption. I’m going to have to out-criminal enterprise the biggest criminal enterprisers of them all if I’m to eventually live a fulfilling life. Until then I shall just bide my time as people try to distract me with the latest fad invented by marketing teams that will elevate the chances of getting me into decent work.

For years brutes like Emma Harrison have promised so much and delivered so little. She has freed herself by accumulating a fortune on the back of her promises. But in return she has forced the unemployed into a fruitless lifestyle of approaching places where they’re unwanted. Still Emma Harrison and the government keep preaching about skills all in the name of progress. Once upon a time I thought that skills mattered; but they don’t matter, compared to how people matter.

Until we put people before skills in this country we’ll never get it right. Then again Emma Harrison clearly doesn’t have the skills to get all the unemployed into work, and she’s still in the job. Maybe one day the rest of us will get as many chances as she’s had.

Damo

Since 2008 I have been going to a museum that is otherwise nationally known as Jobcentre Plus. Inside my local office there are these ancient artefacts collectively called paper. So whilst the rest of the world has moved on to Iphones, Ipads and kindles, the job centre has pretty much been left untouched since the 70s. Sometimes I’d walk in drunk and would wonder if I’m mad, in a coma or have travelled back in time like Sam Tyler from that TV series Life On Mars. Suddenly I’d be brought back to the modern day again as I stagger into a job point, which is the cutting edge technology of the millennium.

There’s nothing wrong with being unemployed and drunk, as long as the Daily Mail gang doesn’t have any idea about it. It is a part of the British culture to drink, and people who can’t find work shouldn’t be excluded. Besides some of the most entertaining people ever to grace these shores loved a drink. I’m talking about the likes of Oliver Reed, George Best and Denise Welch. Even the bloke I would love to work with drinks whilst entertaining the masses.

In a drunken state, I do look forward going back and forth to the job centre every fortnight just to let them know that three local employers aren’t interested in employing me in the slightest. I’m sure that when I’m on my deathbed I will cry at the thought of not being alive to attend the job centre anymore. My only hope is that Heaven exists and I’d be able to continue my job-seeking activities there. I wouldn’t even like to think what Hell could be like. Perhaps it’s an existence without the job centre. If that’s the case then hopefully God will forgive me for all the sins I’ve committed before my time is up.

So I’ve read that you’re making getting youths back into work your top priority in 2012. It’d be great if you could take time out of your busy schedule to get this unemployed youth back into work. All you have to do is read my idea and decide if you want to help or not. In the meantime I’m looking at a very bleak future whilst you decide whether or not you want to help.

Here is my idea
Page One: http://i.imgur.com/fJIAc.jpg (PLEASE ZOOM IN TO SEE WRITING)

Page Two: http://i.imgur.com/Xdv5M.png (PLEASE ZOOM IN TO SEE WRITING)

I’ve got everyone’s support (even the Job centre is supportive) for this project, other than any investors.

Finally we live in the age of Twitter and if you can’t keep up then the current government will continue to neglect  this generation of well-educated young people who will make the world a better place, if given the right support.

Damo

I was most impressed with Ste who led the way in guiding the students through Reason on the big screen. He is an absolute natural host who delivers his lessons in an entertaining and constructive manner. The government should be sending in underperforming teachers to learn from the way Ste goes about teaching because we would have better schools if each classroom had a bit of Ste in them.

J Bravo complemented Ste’s lead by going round to individuals to make sure that they’re getting a hang of this complex programme. It would be easy if the students were left to their own devices throughout whilst Ste talked on. But Staff at Future Arts always go that extra mile to help everyone and this was no different. Kyle also chipped in when he could by having words with Ste and keeping me company throughout my observations.

Eventually a well deserved break was called and it gave me a chance to meet a couple of the students. It was great to come across people from all walks of life who were enjoying this course. The enthusiasm that the students had for learning was very pleasing indeed. But best of all they lavished praise on the course that was put together by Future Arts.

Keep up the good work guys!

Damo

Just imagine the relief that jobseekers up and down the country will feel by not having to go through another year of fruitless jobsearch that’s akin to finding straight corners in a circular room. They’d be no more soul– destroying fortnightly trips to the jobcentre where your dignity is savaged by admitting defeat to a sympathetic advisor. All those hours of non-productivity would be replaced by productivity in a workplace where you get paid a decent wage for doing a decent week of work 

I’ll ask my local MP to forward on this idea to Chris Grayling, and who knows, it might just become a reality. Jobs underneath the Christmas tree: it might not happen this year, but maybe the next. However knowing my luck it’ll probably just be ‘job opportunity’ print-outs from the Job Points in the jobcentre rather than an actual job to go to. In my experience most of the job opportunity printouts could easily replace the jokes that you get in Christmas crackers because they’re unfunny and get chucked away just as fast. Certainly none of them are worth destroying a tree over. 

The present I would like to find under the Christmas tree come the 25th December would be an opportunity to work at BBC Three. I feel that as an organisation BBC Three would be ideal because it gives room to new talent like me to play, invent and experiment with my ideas. Instead of entertaining myself on the dole I would be entertaining the nation with my unique sense of humour. A sense of humour that has been lost at times due to the hardships that long-term unemployment brings. 

More than anything I want to share my dancing with the nation, and they would be no better way to do that than to dance in a new sitcom. My dancing has entertained on various platforms throughout the years and it’s about time I got my chance in front of a national audience on the right platform. If I went on strictly come dancing then Craig Revel Horwood would absolutely demolish me, and rightfully so, because my dance moves aren’t made for that kind of show. However from the dance floors of Leeds to BBC radio studios with Alan Raw to the videos on YouTube, I have entertained a lot of people and it’s they who’ll switch on a new sitcom to watch what I do best.

Finally I just hope that mine and everyone else’s wishes come true this Christmas!

Damo

Unemployment is a big problem in Leeds which I feel is been swept under the carpet and hidden away by the job centre along with their private contracts due to vested interests. These places don’t find solutions for the unemployed – they just exist on the laws of probability that if there are thousands of people searching for a job then some of them are bound to get one. A couple of success story’s get highlighted whilst the information about the likes of me along with thousands of others who these organisations have failed are mainly hidden from the public awareness. The solution is creating jobs but it seems that these places are more than content in making us compete for little that’s out they.

The most frustrating thing about the job seeking process is doing long winded applications which aren’t suited for an instant gratification society. These applications are normally for entry level jobs and then you don’t get the job after all that. Job seeking is a waste of a lifetime if it’s fruitless and the job centre along with their private contracts don’t really do anything about it. Their employees are just more than happy to get paid for giving their two penny’s worth that your gran could give you for free. The unemployed need a hand up into a job and not more pointless advice from staff at the job centre along with the equally as pointless training courses and work experience that rarely lead into a job.

So back to the occupy movement in Leeds which I feel could help the unemployed during their time on city square. We really do need a tent or a marquee on the square that offers the employers of Leeds unemployed Individuals who want a job. When an individual is satisfied with the job offer then that’s them off the dole and off that part of the square. We can use this tent/marquee to gather newspaper articles and blogs on why the unemployed feel mistreated along with disillusioned. It’ll hopefully kick off a revolution in job seeking where employers go looking for the employees.

Eventually the square could even have other solution tents and marquees.  I just feel that the occupy movement should be looking at short term solutions as well as long term solutions. For example there’s a load of homeless people in Leeds that could be rehoused. Life is short and some people like me have experience far too much to just sit in a square till my dying days to debate. All I really want is a suitable career and to be off the dole. I also want a better world but that comes in time as history has told us. I’d rather live in the 21^st century than the dark ages.

I am the 99%

I want a hand up and not a hand out.

Damon

If you want to get on the radio then you can get simply get in touch with Alan Raw who hosts BBC Introducing every week. Some of the best artists on his shows have gone on to do festivals, big and small. Hopefully we’ll see some of the emerging talent from Future Arts at these festivals next year after we impressed Alan with the tracks that have been produced in our studio. I’m also sure that he’ll champion every good song that comes out of Future Arts in the not too distant future.

Then, there’s online giging via websites such as YouTube, Facebook, Soundcloud and Twitter to name a few. I’ve had some success on YouTube in the past where at least two of my original songs gained an online audience of 500+. A number (about 4 or 5) of videos which feature me dancing each received 1000+ views so I definitely had the audience. The problem obviously was getting a break which is a problem shared by all emerging talent throughout this city. By getting a break I mean by earning a living from what we do as artists. For me personally, it’s just not feasible to be on the dole for many years and to continue pursuing a break in the entertainment industry as the process get more disheartening with every set back.

What’s really needed right now is lots of helping hands to lift at least one of our emerging artists from the fusion sessions at Future Arts into the capable hands of a top record label. We need a top record label to develop one of our artists into a nationally known star so that we as a city can live off that in the present. This is because at the moment we don’t really have an artist from Leeds who we can all relate to and has made it in the industry. There’s really no pathway other than hope for the best and if you’re lucky you might get spotted by someone who’s going to turn you into a superstar.

It’s just such a shame that at Future Arts we don’t really have the resources that a record label has to try and turn emerging talent into the next big thing. But hopefully within this decade that day will come when we will have the resources to produce an artist that will sell out the 13,500 capacity arena that’s been built in Leeds.  This is because at Future Arts we are not all about getting as many youths through the door as possible and stating we’re a success for that reason. We want to be a success because future arts helped uplift disadvantage young people in better futures as opposed to just providing them a temporary distraction from their troubled lives.

Damon

At 7pm we launched ourselves towards the BBC Leeds studios for the big interview. Once inside the studios I was reminded what a prestigious place this really is. The amount of talented people that have been within those four walls is mind blowing when you think about it and there I was on an equal platform as them. It’s a sensational feeling been inside the BBC and I doubt I’ll never lose that feeling no matter how many times I may experience this in my lifetime. For me it’s up there with filming at the city varieties.

Eventually we bumped into the broadcast assistant Ross who along with all the other staff at the BBC made sure that we had the most wonderful time. Ross assisted us a lot in the waiting area prior to going in the studio to meet Alan Raw. In fact he enjoyed working with us so much he’s decided help more at a later date but more about that in another blog. I’m particular grateful in how he made life so much easier for Tom so he could record the whole thing to showcase for a later date.

Finally we got to meet the main star himself in Alan Raw who hasn’t changed at all since the last time I saw him a couple of years ago. I was pleased to be back in his presence but this time I had company with me which made this occasion all the more special. After Alan introduced himself to other and traded nostalgia with me and Paula it was straight to buisness which was promoting the emerging Artist that have come through at Fusion.

I have to say that we did a fantastic job and I hope that the audience enjoyed the show as we did doing it. Overall it was a fantastic experience and i can safely predict that any quality artist that comes through Future Arts will be exposed to an entire nation if everyone had their way, both here and at the BBC.

Thanks for Having us BBC and I look forward to hearing from you in the near future!

Damon

It felt like I should.

And as of now, I have exactly zero friends on it.

I don’t understand it. I  don’t even like it all that much.

But, if the interwebs tech-gurus are to be believed, we should all jump  on board. NOW. Cos by next year, facebook will be lying on its back, kicking its legs wildy in the air, doing its best impression of myspace. Which initially makes me a bit sad, as facebook has provided at least  some sort of entertainment for me, especially during the ad breaks for TOWIE.  Their was even the time my friend changed his relationship status from “Married” to “Single” one evening while I was watching DIY SOS and I spat my hob-nob out all over my velour jogging bottoms (don’t judge)

Ahhh.…memories

So, what exactly does Google think its playing at? Tapping into a market which is surely completely saturated. Facebook lets you pretend to have 400 friends, when you don’t. Linkedin lets you appear to be all business-like, when you’re not. Twitter lets you stalk celebrities and bebo lets you pretend to be 15.

Anyway, I digress. Here is why the people in the know believe Google+ will take over the world;

Google is actually serious

They have spent a lot of money and have ploughed a lot of time into this.…and let’s be honest, Google doesn’t fail. Ever. Notably they have adopted a listening ear, and relied heavily on the input of focus groups,  steering Google+ towards what they believe will be the ultimate user experience.

Its a bit of a cross-breed

Can this approach actually work? Facebook filled our boots as far as networking with friends and family went, then came along twitter and opened up the celebrity world by allowing one-way connections, finally linkedin chipped in to fulfill our business networking needs. Well with Google+, or more importantly with “circles” — Google have invented the swiss army knife of social networking.

Google owns search

Google is Google, and that reason perhaps alone should lead us to easily believe that this project should, and probably will work. They have their own search engine, and to a certain extent can be in control of its own success. The +1 button is their variation on the “Like” button, and is quickly becoming more prominent.  Businesses uber-keen on SEO are already believing that the use of the +1 button will automatically benefit their search engine ranking, Google are remaining tight-lipped, suprisingly!

So, these points considered, is Facebooks future doomed, and Google+ destined to succeed?

I’m actually not too sure.

Don’t get me wrong, Facebook and Twitter aren’t immovable. If something truly revolutionary comes along people will leave as fast as they came. But I’m just not sure Google have nailed it yet.

First of all I’d just like to state that Future Arts has already improved this city and you only have to look at the successful youth services we have here at the centre to see an example of that. This summer gone by saw some of the youths that have come through our youth services perform in front of hundreds at the breeze on tour festival. I had the pleasure to see the fruition of the good work that’s been done here and to hear from people at the breeze festival who said many good things about us.

Alongside the performers at the festival we had Erase TV filming all that was going on. Hopefully once the final video has finally been released to the general public it’ll be used to promote breeze festivals for many years to come. I’m not 100% too sure what the next project for Erase TV is, but I think we should take advantage of this vision for the city by filming as many young people as possible to give their opinions on how to make this part of Yorkshire a better place to live in.  Erase TV could also do promotional videos for many organisations throughout Leeds that will be collaborating to make this vision come true.

Finally there’s my generation who are quickly becoming disillusioned with their stake in anything in this city. That’s why I’m going to channel all my energies into the job club idea that me and LJ was discussing about until we got distracted by other workloads. This job club will be in the spirit of David Cameron’s big society and maybe I can get my local MP involved along with a bunch of other MPs interested in helping the young people of this area move away from unemployment. After all if Leeds is going to be the best city then it needs to be the best for all and not just for the few.

Damon

But perhaps even more worrying than what has already happened is the rhetoric about, attitudes towards and actions against young people we are seeing in the wake of this turbulence. They are creating an even greater social gap between young and old, a gap which may prove to cause further marginalisation and potentially lead to more devastating violence further along the line.

It may seem hackneyed to quote Martin Luther King in a blog post, but I think a comment of his is particularly pertinent at the current moment “There is nothing more dangerous than to build a society with a large segment of people in that society who feel that they have no stake in it; who feel that they have nothing to lose.”

To ascribe these riots to pure criminality would be to ignore the context which has allowed them to happen and fuelled their spread across the country. Sparked by the as-yet unexplained police shooting of Mark Duggan and what to many seemed like an unjustified assault on 16-year old girl at a demonstration calling for justice and a fair investigation into the shooting, the initial very-obviously political riots sparked others, first across London, then across the country.

If you were to take a map of the most socially and economically deprived areas across the country and and overlay a map of where the riots occurred, you would find a near-perfect match. Cuts to benefits and housing allowance, rising unemployment rates (which already stood at around 50% for black men aged 16–24 according to Institute for Public Policy Research), the ending of the Educational Maintenance Allowance, and the significant cuts to youth services so vital to inner-city communities have not only meant a worsening of economic circumstance, but a breakdown in social cohesion as well. This comes just after what many young people have seen as a betrayal of their interests by the Lib-Dems, and a failure by any other party to meaningfully voice the interests and worries of the groups concerned.

The young people who rioted are part of a generation increasingly locked out of economic activity and political participation, who are blamed as being the root cause of social problems and are villainised through media narratives of ‘hoodies’ and ‘yobs.’

Perhaps the worst response we could have as a society is the one which seems to be happening now. Demands for draconian prison sentences, capital punishment, the return of 1980’s-style ‘sus laws’ and the termination of benefits and council housing for those involved (or whose families were involved), if realised, would only further compound the problems of an atomised section of society. The loss of benefits and housing would only worsen the economic conditions which fuelled this last wave of violence, while demands for disproportionate and politically-motivated punishments would only increase the perception of the least wealthy of having nothing to gain in a society which shows them no sympathy.

Allison Ogden-Newton recently wrote in the Guardian about the role the Third Sector can play in job creation to potentially avert crises such as these riots from happening again. It is also important that we take a stance against the criminalisation of young people and attempts to widen the social, economic and political gaps between different parts of the population.

For many of us who work with young people from difficult backgrounds, our work can only exist based on a mutual trust and respect between both parties. The Third Sector and many Social Businesses like Future Arts understand the importance of engaging people from troubled backgrounds to create positive action for communities, an ethos it seems we have to fight for in wider society as well.

Limetree Festival is, like Future Arts, a Social Enterprise and as such actively promotes a number of community projects, social values, and independent organisations. A key message of the event was environmental responsibility, encouraging people to ‘Leave only footprints,’ to recycle while they were there, and to avoid purchasing plastic bottles of water by offering free tap-water as an alternative.

The festival organisers also emphasise that Limetree Festival is ‘A return to how festivals used to be’- in other words, not just a place for multinationals to use for advertising and not just a place for one particular ‘scene’ to enjoy, instead embracing a diversity of musical genres, independent retailers and a wide-range of lifestyles. This was definitely reflected in the attendees as a whole range of ravers, hippies, families and (gasp) even normally-dressed people came for the festivities.

The diverse nature of those attending was reflected in range of paid-for and free activities hosted by festival. There were DJ workshops provided by Jim Reiss, Electric Juice CIC showed young people how to make dream catchers and tutus from recycled materials, there was a daily yoga session at the Stone Circle, and even a ‘Sound Library’ where young people could play about with guitars and learn about environmental ‘direct action’ all at the same time.

There was also a massive variety in terms of the different tents and stages. The Bet Lynch stage (hosted by Queerinspace) had a range of comedians, acoustic acts, performance pieces and even fancy dress for all to enjoy. I think my personal favourite, however, was the Jason Rae stage which played host to my favourite three acts of the festival– Captain Hotknives (a great artist combining music and comedy to produce memorable and inciteful social satire), China Shop Bull (Skacore meets drum ‘n’ bass to create one hell of a fusion) and Middleman (an incredible live band, their frontman was climbing all over the tent and on stage there were dreadlocks flying all over the place). Of course, the Dance Music Therapy Village was a great laugh providing a range of music from old-school jungle to minimal (all punctuated by the presence of three year olds in massive ear-protecting fluorescent headphones).

It should also be noted that the quality of food on offer was surprisingly (alarmingly?) good for a festival and at a not-too unreasonable price. The Tibetan Kitchen and i’s Pies particularly stood out. Indeed, we couldn’t get our sponsorship manager to stop talking about the quality of the Tibetan beef. I was also a fan of the slow-cooked Chinese pork sandwiches on offer at another stall. Certainly better than the £8 soggy pseudo-burgers you usually get at festivals.

On the last day I sadly missed an art performance which sounded amazing, where a man on 4 stilts covered in black stockings and electrical equipment with some kind of predator-esque mask (an eight-foot electronic alien?) emerged from the crowd complaining about the humans’ strange music in some bizarre synth voice, before his backpack started blaring out some intense breakbeat for the revelers around!

Overall it was a really enjoyable festival in spite of the rain and the drab weather (God bless six-person tents). It was a shame that the attendance figures weren’t higher (a general trend at the minute it seems) because it seemed like some of the activities and independent retailers’ spaces weren’t that well attended. However, overall it was great to see such an emphasis on diversity, acceptance and environmentalism at a festival rather than it just being a celebration of branding, and some choice musical acts and performances gave an amazing chance for the uninitiated to enjoy alternative forms of musical fusions and genres. A big thanks to the girls and guys from Dance Music Therapy for the tickets, we had a wonderful time!

Coming from Loughborough, I was amazed that such a wide array of genuinely interesting activities for young people could be organised all in one place at one time, having never experienced such a thing before. The idea boggled the mind. There was a climbing wall, a Rock School where kids could sing their favourite songs (I think I’ve heard “Have a Nice Day” by the Stereophonics more in recent days than throughout my entire teenage years), Gladiators–style podiums where you could hit your mates with big inflatable sticks, a game where you could run around shooting each other with lasers, carnival rides, claymation workshops, arts and crafts sessions, taekwondo training, adventure courses, bungee trampolines, the one-and-only Future Arts’ production tent, and some really excellent jerked chicken.

I was really impressed by the musical talent on display at Breeze. I sadly didn’t get a chance to catch the MC’s and rappers from the CLAMP collective, but watching the videos of their performances, I was really impressed by the delivery and witty lyricism being displayed by a lot of these young artists. In the flesh I did manage to check out a few acts. The Creeks (one of whom, Ste, is an outreach worker here at Future Arts) gave a great performance and provided one of the most surreal experiences of my life as I watched old ladies tap their feet and four-year-olds in fluorescent vests manically jump up and down (or run away with their fingers in their ears) to their powerful and driving brand of indie-rock.

I was also really impressed with the young artists of The Gonzos. First of all, one of their members came on stage wearing a Random Hand tee-shirt (definitely a good sign), and now as I sit here searching for them on the internet I’ve just discovered a picture of the entire band wearing Random Hand tee shirts. Proving that creativity doesn’t just come with age, their style was able to fuse catchy riffs with complicated ska rhythms, aggressive bass lines and at times almost military-style drumming. The energy of their lead guitarist was incredible– he managed to break two sets of guitar strings during a single performance! It was also really heartening to hear the lead singer announce mid-set that they had just been signed, so keep an eye out for these guys.

Despite the fact that our first potential punter of the day complained that their feet were wet and then ran away from the Future Arts tent (they were only four so I’ll give her a break), the outreach team were busy all day. Dozens of young people came in, made some really interesting and diverse tracks and took them away on discs, happy as Larry. It was inspirational seeing so many young people enjoy what our organisation and employees can offer, and hopefully they’ll stay in touch and come back for more of our workshops and drop-in sessions in the near future.

Our EraseTV Crew were also out and about on the day; this group of young volunteers had signed up to take part in filming the day’s festivities, interviewing the people who attended, and giving their own thoughts on Breeze on Tour. It seemed like they’d learned a lot from our multimedia employees, who by the end of it all could just stand back and watch as these young people filmed events, interviewed people and captured sound like professionals (watch out for the video coming soon).

Overall it was a really interesting day– the site was absolutely rammed with kids who clearly loved the interactive nature of the displays and the huge variety of activities on offer. It kind of made me wish I was 10 again (and not raised in the East Midlands). I’d be surprised if next year it didn’t have even more businesses, charities and young people involved due to the clear popularity of the event with all those who attended.

Anyway, if you’re from Leeds and have any passing interest in live music, or just like to go out for a few drinks, you’re probably aware of the “Leeds Festival Fringe” that’s happening around Leeds at the minute. The idea is that a lot of the music venues and bars around the city are putting on live music with the intention of raising as much money as possible for Martin House Children’s Hospice. All the events are free entry and the idea is to raise the money through donations.

This weekend I’ve been to a some of the events, an all dayer at The Dry Dock on Saturday, a couple of hours of acoustic music at the same place on Sunday afternoon and also to see some bands at Carpe Diem Sunday evening. A lovely time was had at all three events, and it’s great to see people coming together to support such a god cause. Or is it? Turns out the events at Carpe Diem, which had been running since Thursday, hadn’t really raised any money. There was a donations bucket onstage every night and you’d think that bands playing would be encouraging people to donate, right? Well a few did, but the people there weren’t really that bothered about it. Turns out that the donations bucket which had been out for 4 nights had less than a fiver in it, and that was after I’d put around a quid’s worth of change in there.

Obviously, times are tough. People just don’t have the money to be giving generous amounts to charity all the time, which is fair enough. Leeds Festival Fringe isn’t about donating massive amounts on a regular basis though. If you can’t afford to donate, then don’t donate, no one can force you to give away money that you don’t have. One thing to think about though, beer at these venues costs about £3 per pint. If you’re spending £20 on beer for an evening, are you really too skint to put a bit of change into a donations bucket?

One of the artists playing at both events I went to on Sunday, Louise Distras, raised a very good point in a blog that she wrote on the matter. After encouraging people to think about exactly what a Children’s Hospice is, consider the following point that she made: “So by now you will realise that these kids will never grow up to have all the things you take for granted – like going to a charity gig with your friends to drink beer and donate money to help those less fortunate than yourself”

It’s great to see musicians and music fans coming together for the events, but you have to ask what the point is if no money is getting raised for the cause. I’d personally encourage people to go out to one of the events this week and even if you only give 50p, or sacrifice one drink throughout the night, if the whole room can do this then maybe the whole thing will be worthwhile.

Personally I have no problem with working in a supermarket as long as I’m working under the same fair working conditions as everyone else. But the reality is that I’d be working for nothing alongside people who will be getting the national minimum wage for doing the same job as myself. This is all under the name of ‘work placements’ which to me is just an alternative name for free labour.

In a way these kind of work placements are just long-winded interviews. Instead of filling out a form and chatting to the recruitment manager at the supermarket for half an hour, you’re working for ten weeks being watched the whole time. If I was the boss of the supermarket I know which process I’d prefer, and it would be the one where I got to exploit people who are struggling to get a job. This way you can get free labour by giving people just that tiny bit of hope that they might get a job at the end of it. Ok maybe I wouldn’t but I’m sure you get my point.

Let’s not kid ourselves here – this is working at a supermarket in an entry level job. It’s basic stuff that a majority of people seeking a job will be able to get the hang of almost straight away. This supermarket isn’t taking disabled people on work placements because they’ll struggle to do the job. This supermarket is taking disabled people on because they can get them for free for ten weeks. I’m sure that without this charity I could approach pretty much anywhere with entry level jobs and work with them for free. They’ll welcome me with open arms in fact, and who can blame them?

The bottom line is that the interview and application process to get an entry level job has become too long-winded. For example, my friend went for a four-hour interview for a bar job. He didn’t get that job and that’s four hours of his life he’ll never get back. He’s still a barman elsewhere to this day and I can assure you that it didn’t take his employer four hours to suss him out as a reliable bar worker. Another example I came across was someone who did a work placement at a clothes store for six months! Okay, she managed to get the job after that but when I was talking to her she was back on the dole.

Call me a romantic idealist but this isn’t the kind of society I want to live in. I strongly believe that people are people and that people can pretty much adapt to any situation that they get put in. They have to in order to survive. I never wanted to be on the dole but here I am thriving.

Worryingly I have a tribunal coming up in September which could see me back into the land of Pauline Campbell Jones-esque job clubs. I’ll be told to apply for any old three jobs a week like a headless chicken in an ever-shrinking jobs market. If I ever do get a job then the job centre or the private providers will get the credit for all the repetitive work I’ve put in myself to get a job. When in reality I’ll just be that one lucky person to get a job out of a number of people applying for the same one. Job Seeking in this country is like playing the lottery – you might win, you might not. You might get a job, you might not. I don’t play the lottery because I know that my chances of winning are slim and I don’t see why this should be any different when it comes to applying for jobs.

Finally I’ve achieved more in the three months I’ve been at Futures Arts than I could ever wish to achieve with the job centre during the three years that I was with them. Ok Future Arts haven’t got me a paying job and ironically I am here on a work placement. But what they have got me is a future with much more potential than I could ever have hoped for with the job centre or any of their private providers. The things that I’ve got in the pipeline should get me noticed and hopefully get me a job.

Damon

We’ve partnered up with Leeds Reach to help support the work they’ve been doing delivering youth programs in the Chapeltown area this summer. This Friday our team of cameramen, production experts and born-to-be presenters will be heading down to the Leeds Reach hub to share some of their skills, before coming back to the Future Arts studios to demonstrate the practical use of multimedia programs and technology.

After helping out with Leeds Reach, this Saturday the EraseTV team will be assisting some local young people (headed up by Fe) to create a documentary about the city’s buskers and their role within the community. It will follow the group as they talk to buskers around the city centre and discuss the vibrant busking scene which flourishes across Leeds.

The film’s aiming to capture the diversity of the musical styles and artistic flourishes amongst Leeds buskers, and raise awareness of the rare privilege that we have here with street performances from percussionists, vocal artists, Chilean troupes, and so on.

This isn’t to mention all the work that the EraseTV group have been doing alongside young people to film the Breeze on Tour festivals (round 2 this week!) as they come up around Leeds. At each festival other Future Arts employees and volunteers have been promoting the DJ workshops and summer courses we have been offering, while the EraseTV team help young people film the events and give their opinions on them.

In the wake of last week’s riots, young people are being villainised and portrayed as criminals by sections of the media, so we’re really proud to be working with young people who clearly care about their communities and defy the stereotypes about British youth today– the unrepresented majority.

So remember to keep one eye on the EraseTV youtube channel, because with all these innovative projects coming along we expect to have a whole range of new-and-exclusive content focussed on life in Leeds and the issues that matter to local youth.

If you’re interested in taking part in any of the activities EraseTV is running or would like to make your own film then get in touch with us at people@futurearts.co.uk

We used our space to run a number of sessions, showcasing Ableton, Reason and other production software. This gave the young people in attendance the chance to make music of their own. Many were keen to get involved and make their own tracks and CDs. They were very impressed with the end results, as were we!

Despite the bad weather conditions, there was still a good turnout at the event and everybody seemed to be having a good time. CLAMP put on a great crowd-pleasing performance and drew in big numbers on both consecutive days.

Our Erase TV film crew were on site on Thursday to film all of the goings on. There was certainly lots to see. Aside from our tent, other attractions included an exotic animals tent and a DIY music project called Rock School.

In a week where morale across the country was very low due to widespread riots, festivals like this are just what is needed. They create the perfect setting to bring communities together and give people a creative outlet. David Cameron has recently encouraged younger people to stay indoors amid fears of further rioting. This could turn out to make a bad situation worse, the youth of today already feel shut out and demoralised by the coalition government, so measures like this will only aggravate the bad feeling. It is a classic case of failing to see the bigger picture. Festivals like Breeze continuously aim to create hope and opportunities for young people. The majority of people in this age group feel that there isn’t a great deal out there for them, so they are striving to change that. Many see this as the breath of fresh air that is so desperately needed.

This coming week Breeze on Tour continues, we will be at Armley Park this Wednesday and Kirkstall Abbey the week after. We are definitely looking forward to it, so pay us a visit in our Future Arts tent and make your own CD.

The ‘Spank Protest Comes Out Mix’ can be streamed on mixcloud: http://www.mixcloud.com/SpankProtest/spank-protest-comes-out-mix/. Their website will be launched by the end of August.

www.facebook.com/spankprotest

www.twitter.com/spankprotest

Our staff gave the attendees some information about what Future Arts is all about and the services we offer. In addition to this they were also able to get to grips with the laptops and software that we work with.

A big thank you to everyone at the Mandela Centre for letting us run our outreach workshop and let more people know about Future Arts.

Throughout the evening our multimedia technicians taught them all about using the equipment as well as handy filming techniques they may find useful. Everyone who came along to the taster day learnt a lot and found the advice on offer very helpful, they are looking forward to the festival.

Many travellers and gypsies live on illegal sites due to a lack of official provision by both central government and local councils. This has led to a constant risk of eviction, either by police or private bailiffs, and a scarcity of access to basic amenities such as waste disposal facilities, electricity and proper water and sewage services.

For young people from the gypsy, traveller and Romani communities this has lead to serious problems in terms of regular school attendance and completion of homework assignments. Children from these backgrounds already fare worst in terms of attendance and achievement at school when compared with other social groups. It is estimated that around 50% of children from these communities are already disengaged from education.

Perhaps even worse than the effect on these young people’s education is that they are increasingly socially marginalised and alienated because of the difficult circumstances they find themselves in. Lack of regular interaction with other students at school due to constant movement brought on by constant evictions has lead to segregation from other ethnic and cultural groups.

Travellers already face a huge amount of prejudice. Programs like ‘My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding’ have stereotyped them as extravagant, ignorant and violent. Words like ‘gypo’ and ‘pikey’ remain common synonyms for uneducated people and criminals. Tabloid papers describe various caravan sites as ‘notorious,’ ‘controversial,’ or ‘dangerous’ even when these descriptions cannot be substantiated.

The effect on the popular conscience is evident in the reaction of many to the attempts of travellers to integrate and settle down. In Braybrooke, the parents of students at the local primary school have sent their children to study further afield since the children of travellers started attending classes. In Cold Norton, villagers are trying to raise £270,000 to buy a plot of land that gypsies indicated they would like to use as a caravan site.

With a lack of positive action from councils and central government, we can only expect tensions to rise between travellers and ‘native’ communities. And Hughie Smith, president of the Gypsy Council, recently complained about the lack of an official caravan site in Kirklees and linked it to the rise in illegal settlements (which are so often the subject of complaints from locals) in the area.

The effect of these cuts to specialist education provision for travellers will undoubtedly lead to worsening attendance and achievement levels, as well as increase the social marginalisation of individuals from gypsy and traveller communities. These young people are having their paths to a better future closed off before they have even begun their lives proper.

Toy Story 3 proved to be the biggest earned over the past 12 months, grossing an impressive £74million. But despite Hollywood taking most of of the glory, British films are still doing a good job of holding their own, This was mostly thanks to the high profile releases The King’s Speech and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. In addition to this, it has also been reported this week that the majority of the films that were subsidised by the now defunct Film Council have made good returns on their investments. These included John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy and (more surprisingly) school-based comedy St. Trinians.

In total, British films accounted for 24% of total box office receipts, a significant rise since 2009. But in order to consistently grow, our film industry needs to keep evolving. Keeping audiences passionate about film and sustaining audience growth is crucial. DVD sales and cinema visits are still in decline, so the industry needs to keep coming up with new and innovative ideas to ensure that we can continue to compete in the ever-changing market.

This latest opportunity came as a real surprise to me, on Monday 26^th July 2011 I was invited in for (what I assumed would be) a casual chat with LJ about what I’ve doing at Future Arts and future possibilities within the organisation. I never thought I’d be offered the amazing opportunity to lead the new Youth Steering Group; there may be some truth in the old saying that ‘good things happen when you least expect it.’ If this can happen to me then it could happen to anyone.

The only regret that I have so far at Future Arts is not spending enough time at the Fusion workshops, but I’m hoping that this will change. I still have some lyrics that I’ve been working on and want to record. Eventually I’m hoping to get in touch with the people who can help me earn a living from my lyrics and get my catchy tunes the break they deserve. Until then I’ll keep plodding on for the small but extremely loyal audience that I have.

I feel that Fusion really does have the potential to be the greatest youth service in the whole of Britain and credit really has to go to the guys who run it every week (you know who you all are). I love its casual nature and I’m looking forward to telling as many people as possible about it. In the steering group I want to try to promote the idea of Fusion running 5 days a week to ensure that it is open to anybody who wants to attend. I’d also like to see a Fusion+ service where the youths with the best potential and most dedication to the idea of professionally performing are given extra support in order to help them break through into the music industry. I feel that this Fusion+ service would give everyone involved something to aspire to and provide motivation for them to work hard and be a part of it.

We could also do with music career surgeries at Future Arts so young people can get advice from people who’ve had a wealth of experience in the music industry. I’d love it for the people who run these surgeries to do more than give advice though. The advisors could also act as agents in order to help their clients get to be where they want to be. Nothing is worse than someone telling you ‘do it all by yourself’ because hardly anybody can break into the music industry by themselves. It takes teamwork and lots of it to be a success with anything in this world as far as I’m aware.

It’s the ‘do it yourself’ attitude dished out by the job centre and their private providers that I feel is baffling many of the long term unemployed. People fall into long term unemployment because they either haven’t been able to create themselves an opportunity to become employed or they haven’t been able to get work in the ever shrinking jobs market. Why can’t the job centre and providers actually use their so called expertise to get people into jobs? All I see in the welfare to employment industry at the moment is mainly nonsense because it seems that most job centre providers would cease to exist if they sorted out the problems of unemployment in their areas. The day employment becomes as easily accessible as education in this country is the day I’ll stop complaining.

Funnily enough LJ has asked me to help with a monthly job club at the future arts centre. It’ll be very strange to be unemployed and helping others who are unemployed. This is what it’s come to in this country because the bandwagon ‘gives us all your money government’ private providers aren’t doing their jobs properly. If they were then I’d have been employed years ago. I’m about to become a leader within Future Arts now so who knows where I could be if those who failed me actually did something other than patronise me with offers of courses that I could set up myself. Don’t even get me started on how much training it takes to become a qualified shelf stacker in the local supermarket.

Finally I just want to say a big thank you to a number of people who’ve helped me on my way. First up is Undesirable Autistic Rapper who pointed me towards Bravo and Future Arts. Everyone at Fusion for listening to what I do and what I have to say. Massive thanks to blog editor Dan Edmonds for polishing up my raw writing. Tom Williamson for the photos and the editing. Last and by no means least LJ and Paula for having faith in me and introducing me into the Future Arts fold at the best pace possible. If I’ve missed anyone out then thanks to you as well!

Damon

Our aim was to get the word out about our Future Youth strand which encompasses our innovative workshops, Fusion and Erase TV. In addition to this we were also pushing our exiting projects Erase TV at Breeze on Tour as well as Indian Summer.

Despite attendance being thin on the ground, members of the public and other organisations were very impressed with the work we do here and overall the day was considered to be a success. A big thank you to Foundation for letting us spread the word about what’s on offer at Future Arts.

For more information about either Indian Summer or our work at Breeze on Tour, please call 0113 2468294

Firstly, one of the bands I mentioned last week, Pray For Hayden were playing on the Main Stage on the Saturday. I’ve seen and promoted shows for PFH more times than I can remember in the last couple of years, so I kind of knew what to expect from their set. I was however, pleasantly surprised with how well they did. Whether they’re playing to 5 people or 50, they always give 100% and do as much as they possibly can to make sure that everyone in the room has a good time. This time, they found themselves playing on a much bigger stage to a few hundred people and it didn’t phase them one bit. They played their Chances EP in full, added a new song and stuck a couple of covers in there. By the end of their set, an even bigger crowd had formed around the main stage, and the audience seemed very grateful of the free t-shirts that they gave out. It was probably the most popular t-shirt of the weekend actually, with plenty of people wearing them for the rest of the festival.

Another band that really stood out were York’s Mitzi’s Revenge, who were unfortunate enough to clash with headliners Goldie Lookin’ Chain. I managed to catch the first 15 minutes of their set, and that short time alone proved one thing: this band WILL make it. Their fusion of metal and hardcore punk combined with a commanding stage presence meant that other than me, who unfortunately had to go and photograph GLC, everyone who’d gone over to see what Mitzi’s were all about stayed for the full set, and were very impressed. Speaking to the band afterwards, they were really pleased with how it’d gone and surprised with the amount of merch people rushed to buy as they came off stage. Keep an eye out for Mitzi’s Revenge, they’re on their way to the top.

Finally, Sunday saw As Long As We Live take to the stage. They’re still a little rough around the edges, which wasn’t helped by a full weekend of partying, but they still put on a very impressive show. Over the last year they’ve come from the ashes of a pop-punk covers band into a very promising band that mix the sounds of early-Funeral For A Friend and The Blackout. Their onstage energy and catchy hooks mixed with heavy guitars and powerful screams lay the foundations for a promising future. The fact that they’re from a small town in Cumbria is going to work both positively and negatively for this band though. They’re going to get a huge local following, they just really need to make sure that they try and get out and play shows around the country, because they’ve got the sound and stage show to wow crowds in any city.

Film 4, the channel’s film production branch has been going strong for a number of years. Some of their best known box office hits have included the classic Brit-flick ‘Trainspotting’, the multi award winning ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and most recently, Chris Morris’ controversial ‘Four Lions’. It is also twinned with the Film 4 television channel, which broadcasts everything from Hollywood blockbusters to cult classics and foreign films.

This Autumn will see the introduction of a new digital division: Film 4.0. The main aim of this initiative is to find new talent. In a society where catching a big break is the equivalent of finding the holy grail, the brains behind the brand will be going the extra mile to search for the untapped talent of the film world. In addition to this, they will also be tasked with finding new ways to make, market and distribute films as well as effectively engaging with new audiences online. This will help them to broaden their reach and connect with a maximum number of viewers.

They certainly have the financial backing too! It was announced last year that the budget for Film4 would be £15,000,000 a year until 2016. This will go towards the aforementioned aims of commissioning new talent and establishing filmmakers online.

The division will be headed up by Anna Higgs, co-founder of Quark Films, a well-established independent production company. So it’s safe to say 4.0 is in very capable hands.

Film 4 has been one of the most-watched film channels in the country for some time, so the new division certainly has a lot of credibility behind it. If the aims are pushed forward then this could help the healthy growth of the British film industry.

Over the years, Nolan has got this down to a fine art. Take the promotional campaign for 2008’s The Dark Knight, for example. It spanned fourteen months and included lots of creative elements. Fans had to complete tasks such as sending e-mails, sending photos and taking part in scavenger hunts to gain information they wanted about the film. There was also a fictional election-based website focussed on Harvey Dent, one of the film’s main characters. When the film was eventually released it was met with critical acclaim and audiences couldn’t get enough, to this day it’s still the seventh highest grossing film of all time.

Last summers Inception followed suit in the sense that information was drip-fed slowly over a sustained period of time. An online game was launched entitled “Mind Games” (rather apt considering the films subject matter). Playing this game enabled hints and facts about the film to be unlocked…and then the social media element kicked in. The game was twinned with an official Facebook page where players could discuss what they had found and share theories on what the film could be about. Of course, tactics like this work in the long term as well as the short term. Once the film had been released, viewers could talk about whether their theories were right or not, not to mention what they thought of the film as a whole, meaning the interactive element was able to continue.

Which brings us back to The Dark Knight Rises. The promotion for this sure fire success has been the most cryptic yet: the official website launched roughly two months ago, much to the delight of eager fans. But they were left puzzled when they were greeted by a black screen and the sound of monks chanting. Confused? So was everyone else. However, over the coming days all became clear. If the sound is played through a programme which visualises audio a Twitter hashtag TheFireRises appears. Anyone who Tweeted this saw their Twitter avatar become part of a montage on the website which formed a picture of Tom Hardy’s Bane, the villain of the upcoming blockbuster. A million miles away from a straightforward concept, but it certainly got everyone talking.

Of course, other factors of these film’s success need to be taken into account. The millions that are spent on billboard posters, television advertising, trailers and so forth are integral, but in this digital age, you need to really engage with your audience in order to really get them to sit up and take notice. Christopher Nolan has clearly realised this and if he carries on producing innovative campaigns to accompany all of his films, he could become as notorious for them as he is for directing summer blockbusters to rival the best of them. The release of a full-length trailer for The Dark Knight Rises is immanent, will it reveal all? Based on previous form, it’s doubtful. But one thing is for certain, it won’t go unmentioned.

The level of acts that the booking staff at the o2 Academy are getting higher and higher,. Upcoming events in Leeds include Slash, You Me At Six, The Damned, The Pigeon Detectives and loads more, making Leeds a key part of the national touring circuit for national and international bands.

The place that really thrives though, in my own personal opinion, are the smaller rooms where the unsigned bands from Leeds are regularly playing. There are so many great unsigned acts around Leeds at the minute, so I’m going to profile a few of them as “ones to watch” over the coming months.

Firstly, over the last couple of years, punk rockers Acid Drop have been turning a lot of heads, notching up over 100 gigs along the way. In 2009 they won a battle of the bands competition to play at Download Festival alongside the likes of Limp Bizkit, Def Leppard, Slipknot and loads more, as well as appearing at Rebellion Festival and loads more smaller festivals. They also host a bi-annually all day event at The Well called The Pie Race Festival which showcases some of the best punk, ska and hardcore bands from across the UK, which, having attended the the last two, come highly recommended.

Pray For Hayden are another of my favourite local bands. They’re an anthemic pop-rock band with massive choruses, catchy hooks and powerful riffs. Their self described “Wham meets The Clash” sound wins over pretty much any room that they play in, and the energy and passion that they put into their performance just adds to an already brilliant show.

The third and final act that I’m going to spotlight in this blog is Louise Distras, an acoustic punk artist from Wakefield. Relentlessly gigging in every venue that will have her, Louise is fast becoming one of the UK’s favourite new folk-punk artist. A series of brilliant reviews of her new EP ‘Heartstrings On A Handgrenade” and appearances at various small festivals mean that Louise is certainly one of the ones to watch in the coming months.

Bad taste aside, they have always been the pinnacle of photography tech and over the past few years have finally become capable of shooting full HD film. I have heard this step forward compared to what happened in the music world in the 80’s, making top end quality equipment affordable for the masses.

Although decent camcorders have been available for some time, the ability to use different lenses really sets these apart from other things on the market, allowing for shallow depth-of-field (the lovely blurry backgrounds and focused foregrounds you see in the movies). A camcorder with this capability would still set you back well into the thousands of pounds, particularly if it could shoot in full HD. For a few years, Canon have been retailing their 5D and 7D models which even TV professionals have been using, for about £1000-£3000. The final series of House was shot entirely on a Canon 5D mk2, and you wouldn’t know it hadn’t been done on a much higher priced cam.

If that is still too pricey then in August, Sony are releasing an updated model of their full HD DSLR, the a35, with better auto-focus than the Canon and 2 lenses for around £700!

Now, a common misconception of the general public in terms of film-making is that anything can be achieved in the editing and post-production stage. While amazing things can be done in post, the more you get right while filming, the better the final product will be. As I have learned recently through our young prodigy work experience guys, Dale and Sam, a growing number of young people have become incredible at editing and post-production, picking up techniques at a phenomenal pace and putting people like me to shame. Not only this but they are able to keep up to date with the latest technology which moves forward at an incredible pace.

The fundamentals of photography and therefore cinematography are unlikely to ever change and really talented camera operators are harder to find than After Effects geniuses. At a price that could be made back with one decent film shoot, these new DSLR’s are well worth the investment and could stand you in better stead of getting a job or going solo as a freelancer.

Everyone thinks they are a filmmaker these days, so if you turn up to a client/friend/family member with a technically sound movie you will blow their expectations out of the water. If you are looking for a job in film, I recommend you think very seriously about saving up your pennies for a full HD DSLR.

Emphasis is put on sharing and following and the app is largely social media based. You are given the option to follow your friends through the app via Facebook and Twitter. You can see what they’re listening to and even comment and like their song selections. Not to mention sharing your own favourite tracks with anyone you choose.

An extensive collection of free songs are available to stream and the guys at AOL have even be good enough to give us something extra. You are able to access an MP3’s of the Day section and there are even exclusive tracks from artists who have performed at the SXSW Festival that you wont find anywhere else!

‘Play’ is an absolute breeze to use: the layout is simple but slick, the interface is user friendly and aesthetically pleasing, meaning no guide for dummies is needed.

In this digital age, music steaming and sharing is a very crowded market, so it could be argued that AOL are very brave, or even foolish, to try and take on the big players (Spotify et al) with their own take on the service. But there’s no doubt that Play does have some strong USP’s: if you’re always looking to broaden your musical horizons then this is definitely for you as there are endless options to do so. In addition, the social media element keeps it current and up to date. Ultimately, we now have to play the waiting game to see if this musical app will stand the test of time.

Tony Woodley, former leader of Unite, the largest trade union in the UK, complained of high employee-turnover rates, financial instability and subsequent difficulties of union recognition within social enterprises. Leeds UNISON polled it’s members in healthcare, and found that only 3% supported the attempts to spin-out public services to the Third Sector. Members feared that they would lose access to the NHS national pension scheme, could lose the right to national collective bargaining and pay deals, and that the risks of new social enterprises being bought out or going bust effectively placed them in precarious employment. Prominent social enterprise blogger and Managing Director of Social Spider CIC David Floyd has previously stated that unions’ opposition to the expansion of the Third Sector is understandable given the decline in their members’ pay and conditions associated with the transfer from state employment to working in the Third Sector.

Andrew Burnell, chief executive of City Health Care Partnership (formerly part of Hull Primary Care Trust), has called on ‘strong leaders’ to refuse to take no for an answer and keep pushing ahead with the spin-outs to public provision under the Right to Request scheme, even if faced with massive opposition from staff of the service to be socialised. With over 6 million public sector workers, and the government aiming to move at least 1 million of them into mutuals by 2015, simply trying to override or ignore this strong current of public opinion will not suffice, and could potentially destroy the basis of an enlarged Third Sector by killing its workforce’s enthusiasm for the project before it has even begun.

This is not the result simply of greed or a refusal to adapt on the part of many hard-working Public Sector employees, who have spent much of the past two years being villainised for their ‘Spanish practices’ and ‘gold-plated’ pensions. Let us look at the case of Plymouth Primary Care Trust, where staff voted against becoming a mutual last November. Employees and their representatives repeatedly stated their opposition to the creation of a social enterprise which acted as local health provider was based on the fact that it was being done on the cheap and lacked capital. They argued that this would have meant a decrease in the services they would have been able to provide and a potential risk of private companies buying out the enterprise, introducing privatisation to the NHS through a backdoor.

There is a massive disparity between the attitudes of the wider public, the social enterprise advocates, and the people who will staff the expanded Third Sector. We shouldn’t see this as purely the result of poor information or bias, but a reasonable response to concerns about smaller pay packages and reduced service provision. Prominent figures within social enterprises have also expressed similar concerns. Campbell McDonald, a director of Baxi Partnership (an employee-owned trust), has warned against the idea that mutuals and social enterprises can provide a quick-fix solution to the problem of decreased state provision of public services.

Likewise, both the former and current CEO’s of the Social Enterprise Coalition (Jonathan Bland and Peter Holbrook, respectively) have spoken against the almost naïve government expectation that social enterprises will be able to take over the functions of the public sector without major investment, legal assistance, and technical advice on their behalf. Bland has even authored a report which looks at the growth of the Third Sector in places like Spain, Italy and Sweden, and how it was only made possible due to long-term government investment and commitment to providing business expertise, staff training and financing options. Holbrook went a step further and said that unless the government could ensure that Social Enterprises can be asset-locked, there was a very real possibility that private companies would watch them grow to a desirable size and then buy them out, leading to the effective privatisation of many frontline services.

Simply put, the Big Society is not yet big enough or experienced enough to take over the functions of the ever-shrinking public sector, and for all the Conservatives’ rhetorical support, this still needs to be matched in terms of practical assistance. The Right to Request scheme and the Big Society Bank are two important steps forward in terms of logistical support for the Third Sector, but more focus needs to be paid to how to buoy up the confidence of people who will potentially be working in, or users of, the public services provided by local and regional mutuals. The vague nature of the practicalities of the Big Society Bank have also troubled many, some of whom are worried about how social value will be qualified, which will subsequently determine what enterprises and organisations can receive finance through the scheme. If recent Financial Times reports are to be believed, there are also discussions amongst the bankers funding the Big Society Bank about whether or not to go ahead with the project due to the projected lack of a profitable return on investments within the next 5 years.

Without training programs on sourcing finance, sustained efforts to bring business expertise to the Third Sector, larger investments to ensure wages, tax breaks in return for creating social value, or restrictions on the ability of private companies to buy out social enterprises, there is a real danger that the expansion of social enterprise will not survive the next few years. Also, without guarantees to the public sector workforce about their continued rights to union representation, collective bargaining and national pay and pension deals, the Big Society will have to be forced on to the very people who need to be enthusiastic about maintaining and expanding it.

Likewise, cuts to reduce deficit spending should be mediated to ensure that they do not damage the growth of social enterprise. The recent cutting of the Future Jobs Fund, for example, has meant many Third Sector organisations have had to move to staff structures based on large numbers of unpaid volunteers and interns, or alternatively are having to scale back time spent on realising their social missions and divert resources into commercial services to ensure funding levels are maintained.

The government recently released their Giving White Paper, which is theoretically geared towards supporting an enlarged ‘Big Society.’ To give it credit, it does make individual giving to charities easier through policies such as the addition of a donation option to each cashpoint in the UK. However, this does not address the problems facing Third Sector organisations in terms of capital flow, structuring and their legal position. In times of rising unemployment, relying on individuals to fund a replacement for public services is not a viable option.

Unless we can get the logistical support to ensure that provision of public services is maintained, then social enterprises risk becoming the new scapegoat for decreasing standards, and we are left open to the same criticisms of short-sightedness and inflexibility which have led to popular lack of confidence in both First and Second Sectors. If the government is truly behind the idea of the Big Society then it should be offering practical support in the context of an unfavourable market, rather than relying on laissez-faire principles to guide the Third Sector to success.

The band have teamed up with the “It Gets Better Foundation” to shoot the promotional video for the single, and the bands singer, Tim McIlrath said “A number of events were the catalyst for the creation of Make It Stop, everything from the suicides in September 2010, to our own fans voicing their fears and insecurities from time to time.”

The powerful video follows a day in the life of three teenagers that are the victim of bullying in school. All three teens are on the verge of committing suicide as the result of the bullying, but decide against it at the last minute. Towards the end of the video it shows what the three people have achieved in the future, with one lad running for a political position within his hometown and another embracing her sexuality, which was the reason for the bullying in her case.

It’s very typical of the band to make a very powerful and moving video, and it’s not the first time that Rise Against have lent their voice to causes close to their hearts. They’re no strangers to social activism, having donated their song “Ready To Fall” in support of PETA and writing one of their best songs, “Hero Of War” in response to the military action in Iraq.

For more information on the band, visit their official website at www.riseagainst.com

You can also find out more on the It Gets Better Campaign at www.itgetsbetter.org

See the video below:

‘My Life in Leeds’ is the go-to site for anyone who wants to know more about places to go and things to do in Leeds. From attractions to nightlife and restaurants to shopping, it’s all covered here. They also have a range of honest but fair reviews to give people an idea of what to expect from various establishments. Look out for Future Arts making an appearance on the site very soon!

Future Arts will be putting in an appearance at the Breeze on Tour next month. This innovative tour aims to provide a range of fun activities for young people throughout the city, these include arts, performances, sports and lots more! We will be at the following events:

10^th and 11^th August: Scott Hall Playing Fields

17^th and 18^th August: Armley Park

24^th and 25^th August: Kirkstall Abbey

Our team will be on hand to film all of the exciting stuff that’s going on and we’re looking for volunteers to join us. This a great opportunity for people between the ages of 13 and 25 to get actively involved in the filming process as well as seeing all the action at the festival first hand.

If you want to join our Erase TV youth team and get a piece of the action, get in touch! The deadline is August 1^st so give us a call on 0113 2468294 or e-mail people@futurearts.co.uk.

The festival is held in Grewelthrope in North Yorkshire and is celebrated for being very ethical and environmentally friendly. The festival’s ethos is centred around creating a green and serene environment with a leave no footprints ethos. As a result of this it is quickly becoming Northern England’s most diverse festival.

This year, the line-up includes well-established acts such as Transglobal Underground,  Zero 7, Robert Owens, Mr. C and DJ E.A.S.E from Nightmares on Wax as well as up-and-coming performers like Hannah Trigwell, so it’s certainly an event not to be missed! For more information on the line-up, tickets or the festival in general, visit their official website.

LaserRestore, a sister company, specialises in hair transplant and restoration procedures which involve taking ‘permanent’ hairs from the back of the head and planting them around the temple and forehead to create a bespoke hairline for each customer, based on a range of factors from face shape and age to hair texture and density. The entire procedure is relatively quick and simple, yet at the same time utilises years of experience accumulated by their professional team of doctors.

Both these organisations have pioneered new techniques and technologies in their fields and are doing a great amount of work in helping people to regain their confidence in an image-obsessed society. It’ll be a pleasure working alongside them to create their new videos, drawing in the experience of our multi-talented multimedia team and the industry knowledge of LaserSlim and LaserRestore professionals.

Bravo along with a friend was holding some kind of workshop on positive and negative energy. Despite my late entrance, I was made welcome by everyone in the group before we went on to proceed with what Bravo had in store for us. From there on out the group expressed their energies in many different ways without having to say a single word. My idea of negative energy was posing as a monster whilst my positive energy could hardly be found as I struggled to hold a smile on my face. Thankfully my positivity came across when we went on to do freestyle rap with a bit of dancing, and I could feel that what was being taught was slowly sinking in.

The highlight of my visit to Fusion was listening to Luigi, an up-and-coming young rapper, at full flow several times throughout the session. More than anyone else, this guy reminded me how far I have to go in order to become a fully-fledged MC. He’s written a lot more lyrics than I have and has done a lot more production than me too, but best of all I could see that Future arts has really done him good and I can see this place really helping to facilitate his ambitions in the music industry.

A personal milestone for me at Fusion was having a song that I produced with Bravo played to and listened by some of my peers. I came away from Fusion a much more inspired person and more eager than ever to pursue my ambition in the music industry. It’s been a week since my last visit and I’m certainly looking forward to becoming a regular over time.

Personally I’d love to see Fusion become a 24/7 thing where young people can spend every day and night creating music. Life is about living every day to its fullest, not just taking advantage of it one day a week. People can go in the Future Arts studio any time they like, having Bravo and all the other Fusion attendees there really brings the place alive and makes it an all-round amazing experience. I guess what I’m getting at is that the Future Arts studio should become the ‘Hitsville USA’ of Leeds. Hopefully with more funding this could become a possibility. In the meantime I’d love Fusion to go on tour to other social enterprises, charities and youth centres throughout the city in order to give exposure to the emerging talent which comes through at these sessions. I’m sure that a lot of fans could be picked up in my end of Leeds if it was feasible.

Finally I think things are going great for me. I’m pulling away from some of the chains that have held me back for so long and I have Future Arts to thank for that. I don’t know what the future has in store for me but hopefully it’s something exciting!

Damon

The proposed cuts, which will see “capped figures” for families, could see around 50,000 households losing up to £93 per week, and despite the fact that a leaked document from parliament in January revealed a warning of the risk that 20,000 people could have to leave their homes due to not being able to afford them anymore, Mr Shapps has informed the BBC that he “Sees no reason why this would lead to homelessness.”

A spokesperson for Downing Street has said that the caps for benefits are all to do with “Fairness” and declined to reveal any more details about communication between the Communities Secretary and the Prime Minister.

Labour Leader Ed Miliband has said: “I think it’s a matter of real concern that six months ago, the government was warned that its policy on housing benefit wouldn’t save money and would lead to greater homelessness.

“That means it’s an ineffective policy and it’s an unfair policy, and I think they have to be providing some answers about why they didn’t act on these clear conclusions from the Department of Communities and Local Government.”

The debate will no doubt be ongoing and will hopefully reveal an honest answer as to the impact that this will have on these proposed 20,000 people losing their homes.

Statistics currently online show the amount of crimes committed around Leeds throughout May. The stats show that during May, Leeds City Centre was a hotbed for crime. On the Headrow alone there were 110 crimes committed, 30 of which were labelled as “Anti-Social Behaviour”, 2 for burglary, 9 for Violent Crime and the rest were labelled simply as “Other Crime.” I’m assuming that the “Other” category is a group for acts such as being drunk and disorderly or various drug possessions.

Looking around the map of the city, it’s interesting to see what type of crimes were committed in the different areas. Anti-Social Behaviour seems to be the most common label, yet there are also a lot of “Other Crimes” in certain areas taking up a large percentage of the total. Overall, these others seem to be more common in areas with a lot of bars and nightclubs, which would suggest that my earlier assumption of some of them being alcohol related to be quite accurate.

Looking at other areas of Leeds outside of the city centre, there are similar trends, although they don’t necessarily follow the “other crimes near bars and nighclubs are probably alcohol related” assumption. Throughout May there were a total of 737 crimes recorded in Holbeck and areas close by. Of those, the majority was once again Anti-Social Behaviour and these mysterious Other Crimes, with over 500 of them falling into those categories.

The question is though, how much of this information do we really need to know? It’s good to know about it if you’re living in an area where certain crimes regularly happen so that you can be extra careful, but do we really need to know exactly what crimes are taking place on each street?

For more information on Crime in your area, why not have a look at http://www.police.uk/

Bullying, stalking, false identities, inappropriate images and potential heaven for pedophilia. The world’s perfect connection. The next generation for brutal abuse, designed to keep people in contact, used to abuse and discriminate our youths of today. For once the streets are a safer place to be.

An ingenious creation that seems genuine enough until you go into depth. You hear so many stories about young children being abducted and raped or even murdered. Facebook can now be the easier official contact of this process. Children as young as 5 are having facebook pages set up by their parents with their own personal pictures and details in. The thought of how many people look at these pictures is disturbing.

But it’s not just the younger generation that are targeted for such abuse. False identities can let out private information to the world having trusted in someone you think you may know but in actual fact you don’t. Facebook can be used as a dating site in some cases where many people, especially women, are deceived by many into hopes of a relationship however it again could be a scam to coax them into meeting that could lead to a similar scenario if it were a child. Is anyone safe?

Humiliation and bullying are hitting the pages now as more and more people are logging onto verbal abuse which is equally painful as physical abuse. It’s almost hard to believe that one networking site single handedly could ruin a persons life.

Suicide groups are proving quite popular on Facebook also. You hear about these on the news where a mass group of people, usually mid teen gather their thoughts and feelings and chat to each other, sharing various suggestions for a planned suicide. Recent behavior is pedophiles copying young people’s images and posting them onto other sites where inappropriate comments are made.

Take precautions, only add the people you know as advised by the creators of facebook. Set your profiles to private so no one other than your friends and family can see your information. Observe your child on facebook and ensure their safety as young people as you know are very vulnerable to this abuse. This isn’t the first nor be the last criticism for facebook however if we stress enough about the insecurities it may become a safer site for everyone to enjoy as it was intended.

Naturally prices in the UK are forever increasing as they will continue to do so. Taking into account that more and more people are facing extreme financial debts and unable to provide the necessities in life. Everyday a new fancy building goes up, usually in the places where several residences have been forced to find new accommodations elsewhere. This causing many opinions against the trust in local councils and safety of secure living credentials.  Many are beginning to wonder if all this change is going to be in vain or going to make britain a better place to be. It could go either way.

Diverting back to the work force, a personal view makes some feel targeted or somewhat bullied from the higher ranks. Making it just a little bit harder to get through the day. This making several hard workers feel the need to look elsewhere putting businesses in jeopardy. Businesses that perhaps need that person to keep things flowing and running smoothly. Hearing stories of unfair dismissal, harassment, social humiliation ect, has been more than enough information on the seriousness of the current situation. As for spontaneity and social development everyone seems to be doing everything by the book. No short cuts or risks, just following procedure in order to withhold a current job. Is it all really worth it?

Everything seems to have spun out of control and been put into the hands of those that shouldn’t have the responsibility of an entire team dependent on someone that cant function properly or make the appropriate decisions necessary for a successful business. As expectations are rising many people are being laid off and some businesses closing due to lack of income. Its perfectly acceptable to push younger generations into getting an education to put towards a career. However it seems that education may be irrelevant to future positions. If more jobs don’t become available in time for the next generation that will expand and become more and more agitated the opportunities in the UK will reduce massively making all the progress so far be put on hold or back tracked. Its hard finding a balance in the work force but at least for now it’s at a level of decency in  comparison to previous events and to those that will come.

I had a great time with Bravo in the recording studio. He told me that my lyrics were really impressive, but that I still need to work on my flow and develop a clearer voice and rhythm. So this is the path I want to go down on in the next six months. It is my ambition to be an entertainer of some sort and I feel that Future Arts has the creative technologies and connections in the industry to facilitate that ambition.

I feel like I should tell you a bit about myself. Last year I was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome and it’s knocked me back quite a bit. I sometimes feel that for the rest of my life I’m going to be surrounded by people with the same problems that never get solved. I recently met two other people (a lot older than me) with Asperger’s and I feel that I’m going to end up like them in the long run if things don’t get sorted out. I don’t want to make the same mistakes or be a victim of the same circumstances which derailed these people’s lives.

I believe that the biggest cause of my depression over the past three years has been whenever something that was meant to be temporary became permanent. Unemployment should last a couple of months at most and NEVER three years like it has done for me and many others. I’ve had so-called ‘help’ from people within the last three years which turned out to be no help at all because I’m still in the same circumstances – unemployed. I’ve long lost faith in any courses or work placements that the government have on offer because none of mine have led to a job. They’ve just been exploitation exercises on the behalf of private organisations that get paid for my presence.

One of the ideas I’ve had for getting my life back on track is to do a regular blog about the development of my rapping career which I want to pursue. I want to work with the local MC’s and technicians here at Future Arts to improve my flow and rhythm while rapping, as well as other aspects of creation and performance– lyrics writing, stage presence, beat production, and so on. All the while, I want to document my progress, new abilities and new experiences through the Future Arts blog, reaching wider audiences and making online connections.

I want to be able to start working professionally within the industry, and use my gained skills, connections and expertise to help others achieve their dreams of performing and producing as well.

In the long run I want to start a charity that helps one unemployed person at a time. In April last year 21 year old called Vicky Harrison took her own life because she couldn’t see a way out of the hell of unemployment (this was despite her having passed her A Levels and showing a lot of promise). It seems like a lot of companies and charities that are supposed to help the unemployed treat you like a number. Only the success stories are broadcast, whilst the companies’ failures get brushed under the carpet because they’re an inconvenience.

My charity would be all about using money to get that person’s life back on track for good. There’ll be no work placements, courses or anything like that involved, just a focus on getting people back into employment and on the right tracks. I won’t move onto the next person until that one person’s life is sorted out for good. After all most places I’ve been to just move onto the next client if it’s taking time to help someone because more clients means more money.

On the Future Arts’ website it says that you want to be a self-sustaining, non-grant reliant organisation in three years’ time, and I feel the same way. Like you I want to be a self-sustaining, non-grant reliant person, and not to be on the dole for the rest of my life.

Kyle, Bravo and Damon will be posting about the inspirational effects of the Fusion workshops on the young people we work with, as well as the trials, tribulations and triumphs of trying to become a professional MC in the Yorkshire area.

We are really looking forward to having this new range of voices come through on our blog, adding to the range of perspectives and stories already on offer here. We hope the Future Arts blog can bring together readers from a diverse range of backgrounds and reflect the inspiring nature of what happens in our creative hub, bringing the rousing and enriching work we do here to you at home.

The first guest post will be up online on Monday so come back and have a read then, and keep an eye out for more posts about the positive impact Future Arts is having on people’s lives, and the experiences of those who are making it possible.

So far we’ve had some of Leeds’ finest acoustic musicians come in to play a few songs infront of our cameras, including Matt Bentley, Mr Gary C, Rob Galloway, Louise Distras and Ridley Barbet. While we can change the background colour and make a decent enough looking video by using our room here, we’ve been looking for a new place to record to make the videos better.

On the 12th of May, our community outreach team paid a visit to South Leeds Youth Hub. This fantastic development was designed with the aim of giving young people something to do, somewhere to go and someone to talk to and it has definitely done that! It is open to people from across South Leeds between the ages of 11 and 19 and offers a range of great activities. These include music and film, sports, beauty and mechanics, so it’s fair to say they cater for a wide range of interests. Our outreach team spent the day getting to know their way around the equipment and set at the hub.

From this visit, we’re pleased to announce that we’ve found our new venue for recording the acoustic sessions. Future acoustic sessions will be recorded down at the South Leeds Youth Hub, and we’re really looking forward to using their facilities.

You can see one of our acoustic sessions below, with the awesome Matt Bentley performing “Let It Go“

A group of young people came down with the intention of learning more about making music, and after a week of training were able to produce a piece of work that they could be proud of. The week was tailored around what the young people wanted to do musically, and the feedback from the young people suggested that they were all happy with their new skills. Some came away from the course having learned how to perform a DJ set, some recorded songs that they’d written while others were keen to learn more about the way that electronic music is produced, making their own songs.

Overall the course was a huge success and we’re very pleased that the young people managed to achieve what they intended thanks to the support of our Outreach and Multimedia teams.

Born in Leeds but raised in Leicester, the 21 year old rapper has been performing for some time and has established a local reputation with his powerful-yet-accessible delivery style, diverse lyrical content and understated beats. With this latest single he is hoping to break out nationally and establish a name for himself across the country.

Sophie Mei, belly dancer of Britain’s Got Talent fame and recent winner of the ‘Student Human Rights Reporter of the Year’ award at the Amnesty International Media Awards for an article she wrote about human trafficking which featured first-hand stories and interviews from people involve, features as Static’s lost love. We were really impressed by her performance and friendliness (and the fact that she still has time to be able to feature in videos!).

It was great to be working with this exciting and up-and-coming artist, whose passion and lived experience are evident both through his professionalism and his music. We look forward to getting the video out there and seeing how it matches up with the single. For a little taste, you should check out this promo video that Global Voice Syndicate have put out which features interviews with Static and Sophie Mei, as well as a sneak preview of the track itself!

Finally, a big thanks to The Light for letting us film in their premises, and all the Future Arts friends (and their flatmates) for letting us use their homes as shooting locations.

These master classes consist of three very special events, which will be held throughout August and September. Their aim is to bring you a variety of DJ sets, tips and tricks and special guest speakers, starring our very own Paula Temple! Each event will also be themed, the themes will be Ableton, Native Instruments and Bench as we have established very strong contact with these companies over the years.

The organisation process is well underway and we will be able to bring you confirmed details very soon so keep a close eye on our website.

They spoke with a few of our members of staff about their experiences of unemployment, working at Future Arts, and how they feel they’ve made an impact while being here. They also spoke with one of our regular Fusion visitors to find out how she’s been able to use the facilities, expertise and space at Future Arts to develop both musically and personally.

Paula Temple, Managing Director here at Future Arts, also spoke with the Yorkshire Telly team about the development of our social enterprise, the ideas that have driven it forward, and the possibilities for the future of the organisation.

We’re really pleased to be working with the guys from Yorkshire Telly. The people behind the project not only want to promote local creative talent and help people form artistic networks, but they are also involved in social enterprises such as Equal Voices, which like us, seek to promote inclusion and the overcoming of societal obstacles through creative expression and collaboration. Being able to hook up with like-minded groups of people has been a great opportunity and something we really want to continue with, and we hope this promo will be a chance to spread the message about what we’re doing here and encourage more people to use their creative talents to help young people from the area.

Nationally, the DWP have worked out that 49.7% of young people who started a Future Jobs Fund placement between October 2009 and March 2010 were unemployed and claiming benefits within two months of the end of their temporary contract. Despite the successes of the scheme, giving young people confidence, real-world experience and opportunities to network and meet potential employers in a number of different sectors, the harsh economic climate has prevented many youth from using their new abilities to further their career or gain less precarious employment.

At Future Arts, however, the figures are different. Two months after their temporary contract had ended, only 31.6% of previous participants were unemployed with no source of income. Many of those who had not found permanent employment were able to make a living by doing freelance graphic and design work. Six months after the end of their placement, 70.6% of previous Future Arts employees who had been on the Future Jobs Fund had been able to find employment, a number of them in the Creative and Digital Industries.

The Future Jobs Fund scheme has just ended nationally, another victim of government cutbacks in the age of austerity, but its potential has been demonstrated by a number of third sector organisations. The Social Enterprise London scheme managed to get 65% of its 500 participants into full-time work or education after their FJF placements had finished.

The Fund was able to give people the chance to develop vital skills which nowadays can normally only be gained through unpaid internships. It also helped participants develop confidence and a sense of independence by underwriting their wage and guaranteeing a minimum number of hours per month, allowing people to experience both the freedoms and responsibilities of being self-sufficient.

It’s replacement with the Work Programme scheme, where people on benefits are forced to work to be able to sign on, means companies have less incentive to take on new workers, thus locking increasing numbers of young people out of the labour market for the foreseeable future. It also takes economic independence and the element of choice out of the reach of young people involved in the scheme, leading to the twin dangers of resentment and dependency.

But the successful reintegration of NEET youth into employment and education by social enterprises such as Future Arts indicates the potential strength of the scheme. A focus on informing FJF participants of the changing dynamics of the marketplace, an active emphasis on developing professional skills and a commitment to ensuring that freelancing options are clearly signposted has allowed our organisation to rise above national averages and demonstrate the power of creative technologies and the Third Sector in putting people back to work.

The morning began with a short presentation about Future Arts and the Prince’s Trust, so they were able to find out more about our organisations. The participants were then given a chance to talk about themselves and discuss what they are interested in musically.

The rest of the morning was spent getting to grips with our studio equipment and finding out what will be happening during the week ahead.

Overall the taster day was a big success. The young people who attended gained a lot from it and are looking forward to the course starting on Monday morning.

We are thoroughly enjoying our partnership with the Prince’s Trust so far and we’re very excited for it to continue.

Rather than a full review of “this band was good. The next band were also good. The band after that weren’t quite as good”, I’m just going to talk about some of the highlights, and maybe a couple of low points of the day.

The best band that played all day was by far Anti Flag. Their political punk rock anthems, energetic stage presence and tight live sound all combined to make not only the most enjoyable set of the day, but possibly one of the best live sets I’ve ever seen. During the last song, they even cleared a space in the crowd and moved the drumkit in so that the drummer could finish the set in the middle of the audience. A low point of the day was the fact that their set had to end, as it could have gone on for 6 hours and would have still been amazing. They even played a cover of The Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go”, which was a lovely addition.

Goldfinger were a close second though, for all the same reasons as Anti Flag. The thing that worked in Goldfinger’s favour though was the fact that they’re a band with a lot of classic hits, with “Spokesman” and “Counting The Days” particular highlights, even though they were played right at the start. The stand out moment from their set though was the moment during “Open Your Eyes” when singer John Feldmann climbed up onto the balcony and jumped off into the crowd.

Rounding off the top 3 with a set equally as entertaining as Goldfinger was MC Lars, joined onstage for a split set by Weerd Science, pulling the biggest crowd of the day on the Terrace Bar stage. Songs including “Ahab,” “Signing Emo” and “iGeneration” proved very popular with the surprisingly huge crowd. The closing song, “iGeneration” saw Lars crowdsurfing, which was a great end to an impressive set.

One of the first things of the day that we managed to see was on the acoustic stage, when, purely by accident, we caught a few minutes of an unplugged set by pop-punkers Hit The Lights, who sounded great. Their most popular song, “Body Bag” was a highlight. The only other thing we caught on this stage was the first 10 minutes of ex-King Prawn bassist Babar Luck’s set. He now plays acoustic folk-punk but with a wide variety of influences from world music. Definitely an interesting act, and one to check out again.

Less Than Jake were also very good, and while still quite enjoyable, The Starting Line didn’t really set the world alight. Having caught about ten minutes of two different headliners, 3OH!3 and Reel Big Fish, I wasn’t overly impressed with either, both have seen better days.

The hours will be 21–28 per week spread out over 3–4 days per week so it is perfect for someone who requires an element of flexibility in their working life.

If this sounds like something that would be up your street click here for more information and details of how to apply.

The course will last for one week and does exactly what it says on the tin. It will enable you to learn everything you need to know about getting started in music production. In addition to this, the arts of DJing, lyric writing and how to work effectively in the studio will all be covered.

You will be introduced to lots of different aspects of music production and performance elements, all of which will help you to build your confidence and knowledge.

But the course doesn’t just focus on music production, if you’ve ever wanted to know about website design, photography or film, this is the course for you!

We will also be working closely with Kyle Baptiste. He is a former Future Arts team member and continued to work with us on various projects after his contract ended. He is a Prince’s Trust ambassador and runs his own entertainment company, Blue Cheese Entertainment. Therefore, he is the perfect candidate to be running our lyric writing workshop and mentoring the students every step of the way to show them how it is all done.

If you aren’t in employment, education or training, this is the perfect chance to get hands-on music production experience, to a standard that isn’t offered anywhere else. By the time the course comes to an end you will also have learnt invaluable personal skills such as teamwork, leadership and communication, all of which are looked upon favourably in the job market.

You will be equipped with all of the necessary skills to kick start your career and cut your teeth in the creative industry in the future.

Future News has proven to be very popular so far and has received a lot of hits. The good news is, it will be a regular segment on our website so there will be plenty more instalments to follow.

So what are you waiting for? Get yourself over to the Erase TV website to see what all of the fuss is about!

It’s easy to keep up to date with what’s going on, you can visit Erase TV’s official website and brand new Facebook page. If you want examples of the fantastic work that Erase TV has already produced, check out our YouTube channel.

If you aren’t already coming to our weekly Erase TV drop-in sessions, come on down! The workshop is totally free and is held in our great city centre location. It runs from 4:30 to 6:30 every Wednesday and everyone between 13 and 25 is welcome. It is a wonderful opportunity to make your own videos and have the creative freedom to do whatever you want. Finished projects get uploaded to our Youtube channel for everyone to see and in the past, some of the videos have even been showcased by the Hyde Park Picture House and Screen Yorkshire. With the summer holidays just around the corner, what better way to spend your Wednesday evenings?

The photos we took will be serving as part of the promotional material for the tour, which will include flyers and posters. Everyone is very happy with the results, including Dave himself who was a brilliant sport and agreed to don all kinds of attire for the pictures. West Yorkshire Playhouse kindly provided us with props to use; top hats, masks and hula hoops all made an appearance in what was a very eclectic shoot.

Dave has been making waves in the dance music world long before he won the aforementioned competition last year. He began DJing at the tender age of thirteen and has been wowing clubbers and party-goers ever since, in destinations that range from Essex to Ibiza. His talents have even been recognised by the likes of 2 Many DJs, Annie Mac and Judge Jules, all of whom have played sets alongside him.

Keep an eye out for the finished promotional products, which will be making an appearance in a future newsletter.

Their website acts as a free promotional tool and consists of performances and short films which have been exclusively filmed in Yorkshire. The service is not limited to musicians, they are also interested in actors, comedians, poets and any other kinds of artistic performers. The site was set up with the aim of providing these artists with an opportunity to make a statement and make themselves heard.

They have already worked with many well-established acts such as X Ray Cat Trio and The Aftermath, so we are understandably very excited to work with them over the coming months.

They are planning to film a feature about our organisation and all of the invaluable work we do. This will hopefully help us to gain more recognition and in turn, encourage more young people to come and use our services. In addition to this they are keen to include some of the music projects that our Fusion users have produced. Check out their website to find out more about the great work they do.

This time around we will be adding a bit more personality to the page and it will come complete with mini-profiles so you can get to know a bit more about what we are all like as people. You can learn about our likes and dislikes as well as aspirations for the future and much more. The page can be found here.

In addition to this, they are always happy to oblige if similar youth-based organisations, like us, want to use their facilities. So that’s what Jonny and Ste did. They spent the day there getting to grips with the state of the art recording equipment and familiarising themselves with the unbeatable facilities on offer. They both had a brilliant time and gained a lot of valuable knowledge during the day.

A special thank you goes to Leon Reed for kindly letting our team use the studio free of charge for the day. We are very keen to build on this relationship with the South Leeds Youth Hub as they are such a wonderful organisation, we hope that we will find a way to work together in some capacity in the future. Visit their official website to find out more about the South Leeds Youth Hub and the services they offer.

Moving upstairs in Milo saw a much busier and sweaty room for young Wakefield band Penguin who, much like Matt Bentley, put on a very confident performance despite being so early in the day. The three-piece played a brand of straight up rock music which was not unlike Biffy Clyro, and pulled a pretty big crowd too. They’re clearly onto big things, as the amount of photographers that turned up to cover them when there was so much choice around Leeds suggests that there’s a lot of buzz around these young Yorkshire lads.

It was over to the Holy Trinity Church for the most surreal experience of the day. Seeing Sam Airey play his acoustic folk in a church was a beautiful sight, and proof that more acoustic shows should be held in churches. The strangest things about the half an hour that we spent in the Holy Trinity Church though, was having a pint. In a church. Brilliant.

We nipped over to the o2 Academy next with the intention of checking out Starslinger who had pulled out. We found this out after buying a drink, which was rather annoying as we found ourselves stood having a pint in the most expensive venue in Leeds with no bands to watch.

After savouring every last drop of the worlds most expensive pint, we headed back down to Milo for Spirit of John. They were the highlight of the day so far, playing a bouncy fusion of rockabilly, punk and country on guitar, double bass and violin. There was a big crowd downstairs in Milo by this point, and the central location of the stage area worked very well for Spirit of John, as the vibe of having the crowd stood around them rather than infront of them created a great atmosphere.

The Well was our next calling point for Fight Like Apes who we didn’t actually get to see. The Well was so busy that we couldn’t actually get into the back room where the bands were playing, so we had to make do with hearing a muffled version of their set from the front bar. So, while we can’t comment on how good their set was, they certainly pulled a crowd, so they must be doing something right.

The act that we’d been looking forward to the most was back at Milo next, so we came back across town for Micky P Kerr, who pulled a massive crowd and made the upstairs room at Milo turning it into quite possibly the hottest place in Leeds all day. His mix of comedic poetry and acoustic music which follows similar themes was fantastically performed, making being in a room that was hotter than the sun much more bearable. Songs and poems such as “I’m not arrogant, I’m just genuinely better than everybody else” and “I Like Drinking” went down a treat, making him the highlight of a lot of people’s day.

After a food break (Wetherspoons beer and burger deal) we headed over to the o2 Academy to see the much hyped Frightened Rabbit. They pulled a near sold out crowd into the venue, which was close to 2000 people. Their folky indie rock went down a treat, with the huge crowd loving every second of it. Imagine sitting exactly in the middle of Frank Turner and Biffy Clyro, and you’re pretty close to getting their sound.

The final band we saw were Leeds locals Pulled Apart By Horses who, much like Frightened Rabbit, pulled in a huge crowd, this time at Leeds Met. Their loud, riffy rock and a massively energetic stage presence made them a fantastic end to Live at Leeds. From the second they came onstage they gave 100%, which even included their singer coming down into the crowd while still playing his guitar. They were definitely the heaviest band we saw all day, and it’s safe to say that they were one of the best too. They’re doing very well for themselves at the minute, and it’s always nice to see a local band make it, and based on this performance, they’ll keep getting bigger and bigger.

Overall, we saw some great bands and artists throughout the day, with Micky P Kerr and Pulled Apart By Horses being the top two. All day live music events are always a lot of fun, expecially when the bands are good. Roll on Slam Dunk at the end of May.

On April 27^th local actress and presenter Laura Beth Hill will be coming down to the Future Arts office and studio space to pass on her experience and skills to the young people at EraseTV.

Laura is a professional TV presenter and actress who has starred in a number of different productions in a wide range of roles. She has appeared several times in Johnny Vegas: 18 Stone of Idiot, has starred in a range of films from costume dramas (Brideshead Revisited) to short productions (Finding the Words), has presented TV shows and also has been involved in a number of different pieces of theatre. In short, she’s done a lot.

The drop-in session will be a presenting masterclass where Laura will share her expertise in different aspects of appearing in front of the camera. Television terminology, improvisation skills, delivery techniques and on-screen confidence will all be covered.

So if you’re aged 13–25 and want to develop your skills in front of the camera or fancy exploring television presenting as a career then come along! The session will start at 5:30 in the Future Arts offices, and is open to EraseTV regulars, not-so-regulars, and newcomers alike.

So as my Future Jobs Fund placement draws to a close, what have I learnt in my time as a PR and Comms Officer at a creative digital agency which is a leader in the creative industry and uplifts and supports the disadvantaged young people in Leeds?

Well, I may not have been directly involved in the high profile projects, but I have been inspired by the projects both Paula Temple and Gemma Povey started to improve the life chances of disadvantaged young people and those talented young people affected my high unemployment rates and government cuts.

Through this I have discovered that quite a lot of people do actually care about the future of the young people and the knock on effect that arts cuts will have on the creative industries. I’ve found that people will give a PR intern the chance to talk/write/pester them about Future Arts and its social mission to inspire young people through creative technologies.

I’ve had the chance to write two Guardian guest blogs, feature on BBC Radio Leeds, develop a relationship with ITV and bring down the Calendar news team to highlight the organisation, assist organising an event, attend copy-writing masterclasses and social media workshops, gain industry training from national digital agencies, manage Erase TV our online youth platform www.erasetv.org, and meet so many inspirational people who quietly strive to lift those people that society often forget about into better futures. With this I feel empowered to continue to make a change in young peoples lives, highlight inequalities and make the most of my own future.

So a big thanks to: John Barron, Sarah Hartley, Andrew Edwards, Chris Ward, Business Link Yorkshire, Vinvolved, Bronagh Daly, John Popham, Asta Philpot, BRASS, Rising Digital, Breeze Leeds, Princes Trust, Leeds Met Northern Film School, VTR North, Screen Yorkshire, Debbie Eade, Leeds Ahead, Bernard Gines, David Prosho, Dave Foster, Debbie Maturi, Chamber of Commerce, ReWorks, Leeds Reach, Envision, Gaynor Barnes and many many more.

Last week, 25 lucky young adults were taught all about music by the Future Arts team. Laura and Jen came to the rescue at the last minute to teach these special classes on behalf of the Princes Trust.
The event was held at South Leeds stadium and the classes were roughly 40 minutes in length. The young people who attended were not in employment, education or training (NEET backgrounds) so this was a great opportunity for them. During the day they looked at album covers past and present that are considered iconic and then had the task of creating their very own for a musician or band of their choice.
All in all the day was considered to be a big success and everyone who attended gained a lot of valuable knowledge and insight from it. If you’d like to know more about the Prince’s Trust, visit their official website.

You’ll need both Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop, and once you’ve got them, you’ll find it quite easy if you use our tutorial. I think even someone like me who is useless with anything creative could manage it!

Part one of three installments of the tutorial is below, and the others will follow shortly.

The open day acted as a taster for the CLAMP course, which is run by Rolling Right Association, and stands as, like most things based here at Future Arts, as a platform for creative expression. It’s a beginners guide for making music from scratch, constructing videos and just putting ideas down for those who don’t know how.

CLAMP really is a great idea, as it gives the people who don’t have the technical knowledge but have the creative ideas a chance to put their ideas down and also gives them the knowledge to do it for themselves in the future.

For more info and to get involved with CLAMP, have a look on their Facebook Page

We all got the job through the Future Jobs Fund (RIP), meaning Future Arts gets paid by Leeds City Council to employ us. This has allowed us to put more time and effort into the free music and video production workshops which Future Arts hosts for disadvantaged young people.

So far we have been learning all about the Social Enterprise model, how it works generally, and how it works here at Future Arts. We have been looking at the different strands of Future Arts’ work (Future Youth, Future Services and Future Routes), examining the shiny and exciting new projects we have coming up and working alongside the other employees to get some understanding of the practicalities of being here.

We have all been welcomed with open arms, cups of coffee, and ample opportunities to take smoking breaks, and we are all eager to return the favour by using our varied talents, interests, and experiences to further the work and profile of Future Arts.

Future Arts has undertaken a survey of young people aged 13–25 on their future Employment and Job prospects. Our survey shows that 61% of young people aged 13–25 are unconfident about their career opportunities and 89% of these believe that work placements may help them obtain a long-term job.

That’s were Future Arts comes in. We are providers for the Governments now scrapped Future Jobs Fund (FJF) scheme. We provide opportunities for those talented graduates struggling to get into the creative industries as well as those disadvantaged young people just trying to get off benefits and gain some notable work experience.

Of the young people we surveyed, 69% expressed concern that budget cuts will impact on their future job prospects. From our first wave of FJF participants, 80% went on to gain employment or a place in a Further Education Institution. The FJF scheme has been replaced by the current government with the Work Programme which will not be rolled out nationally until this summer.

On the governments Department of Work of Pensions website (www.dwp.gov.uk) they state their aims of the Work Programme scheme are to fight poverty and break the cycle of benefit dependency. On the plus side, the scheme has been opened up to Job Seeker’s Allowance Claimants over the age of 25 and thus those who are benefit dependent.

However, the implication that 280–420 people aged 25+ will be put through this scheme compared to just 30–50 disadvantaged people (including NEET’s and ex-offenders) demonstrates that the support for those most at need — particularly young people, is not being provided. Furthermore, the coinciding reduction of housing benefit with the Work Programme could reduce the ability of the unemployed to find work and cause added stress.

So will the Work Programme be the answer to long-term youth employment? Perhaps the problem is the placement providers. Placements in the voluntary sector will be used to plug the shortages in staff caused by budget cuts and keep services running but won’t offer support to young people. New measures such as performance incentive payments may help the young person to remain in their placement for it’s six month duration but it does not feed the demand for real jobs in skilled sectors.

Paula will now be assigned a business mentor from Goldman Sachs to help develop her business plans and skills.

Goldman Sachs says it got involved in business education in order to build “sustainable and long-term business.” Although, given the recent economic crisis, they can appreciate the new business climate and need for business to be socially aware and accountable to the community in the way that Future Arts is.

The event showed that two inspirational and creative women can set up business and motivate young people to reach their full potential and overcome barriers. Kyle Baptiste, Princes Trust  Ambassador and former Future Routes employee, demonstrated how Future Arts had turned his life around in a rousing speech.

During the night, guests were invited to take part in music technology workshops with All Star and enjoy our installations of Erase TV shows, design work and our new website branding. Live music was provided by local singers Ingy and Karla who performed a live acoustic set to a merry crowd.

Since Dave won Bench’s DJ competition and performed at the Warehouse Project on New Year’s Eve, the Bench PR machine has been rolling to get the most exposure from the tour which is were Future Arts, with a wealth of design, PR and marketing talent comes in.

Jen Appleton, Graphic designer at Future Arts has been working hard on designs for Dave’s new website said, “this is a big project for me to be apart of and amazing to add to my portfolio. Working with people who are quite urban and on Future Arts level is a real buzz too.” Keep your eyes peeled for the finished result in our upcoming newsletters!

It’s not too late to decide to come along if you’re interested in all that goes on at Future Arts.

Mixing Business Skills With Social Values

We offer our work experience to young people of diverse backgrounds and we are excited to inspire more young people in to better futures through the scheme.

DJ Dave Crane spinning some disks

This is brilliant for Future Arts, as working with such big names will bring us good publicity AND inspire more young people to get involved in our projects when they see what can be achieved with hard work and perseverance!

Everyone is welcome to come down, it’s FREE and it’s right here in Leeds City Centre!

»>Mixing Business Skills With Social Values«<

Nathan said, “it has been eye-opening to research and film some of these projects, as a young people we often take things for granted but Envision is educating and empowering young people to make a difference.”

Working with these enthusiastic young people has been a real pleasure and we look forward to viewing the finished cuts.

From a logical point of view it helps a site’s construction; the marketing brings understanding of the potential audience for your site, SEO lets you know what technologies to use before you begin creating.  Both give you your information for usability and information architecture to start creating a site.  The problem arrives when this gets caught in an endless feedback loop of design/adjustment — the more you learn, the more you want to improve!

Still, on a larger scale, advertising for the sake of advertising is something the world would be better off without.  I’d rather keep my distance from it all!

No matter what side you’re on, here’s a site that makes a great point about the whole business and is sure to get out a few laughs (but please be aware there’s the occasional naughty word here and there).

Things Real People Don’t Say About Advertising.

One sugar.

For the first time since records begain (in this office) Gemma has made us tea. WHATEVER NEXT!?

For our UK friends you can listen on iPlayer until the 21st — it starts at around 31 minutes in.  Or listen to a copy below.  Of course this is copyright BBC and we are using it under fair dealing.

Here’s a teaser detail of what’s to come.

We’ve been having fun building a smashing new website for ourselves, using recurring patterns to create abstract fractal style shapes. Making them uses a nice, simple technique, and the effect on a large scale is surprisingly complex.

But wait there’s more! I’ve recorded the process and you’ll be able to see my online video tutorial soon, so everyone can make their own abstract art.

Recently we received a helping hand from the National Lottery. Here’s a quick word from our MD on what that means to us. Available in glorious HD!

Why, you ask? Good clean fun, that’s why! And at only £10 (which goes straight to charity) you can have fun drying your mugs on Kanye’s latest inane chatterings, or make one for Grandma and introduce her to the 21st century Haiku.

In fact ‘Teach Your Granny to Text & Other Ways to Change the World’ just happens to be one of the many titles and products aiming to make life a little bit nicer for everyone.

This is the latest in a curious trend of message based art, and the first commercial follow on from another piece of Text Message embroidery. What’s next? Your Year In Status’ the T-shirt?

That aside, the curious organisation behind the Tweet Towel, We Are What We Do, is an organisation that creates stuff  that makes it easier for people to do small, good things everyday. Doing these “might seem small and insignificant on their own, but their effect can be massive. If we do them regularly, we can have a huge impact on environmental, social and health problems.”

Aside from that they’ve also been making other fun things like this upbeat advert ‘Menos es Más’ (Less is More) with Coca Cola.

I’ll be watching to see what interesting things they come up with next…

Our in-house singing superstar Rachel Frederick and her band ‘The Moves’ are performing at The Wardrobe, (Leeds City Centre, opposite the bus station). ‘The Moves’ are an eight piece neo-soul group consisting of catchy vocals, brassy breaks and sleek funk beats. They have been together as a band since 2009 and played their first ever gig at this very venue, after a long string of performances and events across the region their ‘homecoming’ is highly anticipated. With support from Radio Aire presenter, Leeds Guide columnist and Wardrobe resident DJ Paul Dunphy it promises to be a great night.

So come along to The Wardrobe on Saturday 5th February. Its free entry and the band are on stage playing two 45 minutes sets starting at 10:30pm.

For more details on the band, and to listen to some of their tracks: go to www.myspace.com/wevegotthemoves

On the day of my arrival, I met most of the staff and gave them an idea of my art style by showing them a few pieces of my work. Liz and Alex talked me through their job (sounded quite complicated!) and explained what I might be doing with them during work experience. (Stuff like blogs and Wikipedia pages.) Finally, my knowledge about programs on Apple computers was expanded, as I was shown a few tricks and cool stuff on Illustrator and Photoshop. Today, Robbie showed me some newsletters and web designs that he had made which were impressive. I was also behind the reception desk for part of the day getting to grips with some admin work, and then later created a few ideas for the new Future Arts logo. I really found it a challenge, though.

I’ve noticed one of the walls is quite blank and came up with a few ideas for a mural. Now that I have a good idea of how to use Illustrator I made this design. The tech guys suggested we project it onto the wall and use it like a stencil. I hope it turns out OK!

Overall I’ve gained a better understanding of different job roles in the art industry, and hopefully when I’m done here i’ll have a firmer decision of what I want to do when I’m older.