Future Focus
2020 – 2021
Targeted towards youth groups aged 13 to 17, Future Focus was a new programme developed by WheelWorks after a successful pilot with Carrick Connect in 2019. Through a combination of outreach and creative art interventions it aimed to connect and inspire young people from fragmented communities. The programme was supported by the Executive Office’s Central Good Relations Fund delivering under the ‘Together: Building a United Community’ Strategy.
WheelWorks partnered with Monkstown Village Initiative (Monkstown) and Bawnmore & District Residents Association (Newtownabbey) where significant social problems as well as legacy issues from the Troubles continue to impact the development and progression of their young people. These groups had never worked together, and both thought it would be useful in fostering connections between their communities.
We worked with over 25 young people from September 2020 to March 2021, however Covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns created huge difficulties and the project could not take place as designed. Without the regularity of face-to-face work, the groups found it difficult to maintain sustained connection with their young people. In response, the programme produced a range of excellent digital assets and resources for the groups which could also be shared more widely online.
These included:
Positive Place Showcase Films
To address the T:BUC aim of ‘our shared space’ amid lockdown restrictions each group contributed voice overs, of what they liked about their area and how they spent their time there, to short documentary film shot by filmmaker Will McConnell. The films highlighted the similarities in the lives of young people from both areas. Watch below;
Bawnmore
Monkstown
Creative Tech Hacks
These 'Creative Tech Hacks' were designed as quick and easy tips for increasing digital skills and online confidence which could be easily watched and shared. They aimed to assist with keeping us virtually connected and thus hopefully, reducing isolation and enhancing mental wellbeing in lockdown.
7 videos were made as follows: