Our New Creatives training programme offers coaching, personal development and work experience to help young people in East London gain employment in the arts and creative sector, with a particular focus on the music industry.
In the last year we have delivered 33 sessions, reaching 37 young people, with an additional 2,000 audience members, through eight events curated by the young people. 40% of our cohort this year are from East London and 90% are from Global Majority Communities.
The course began in April with research, inspiration and personal development through 1-2-1 mentoring sessions, group work, trips to The National Portrait Gallery, Apollo Theatre and more – plus a guest workshop from grime promoters TravsPresents.
Things then kicked up a gear in June, as our creatives put their new skills to the test, tasked with curating and producing their own festival. After twelve sessions focused on live event curation and production, the group successfully staged The Last Day of Summer in August – a multi space event including an interactive market, indoor roller skating disco, and live music with many of the young people performing. The event sold over 1,000 tickets, with 400 young people taking over the building and bringing some serious vibes!
We then rounded off the year with thirteen sessions on employability through work experience, tours, placements, CV surgeries and guest talks. This included a trip to the BBC1xtra building, industry talks from Jess Bruno and Jeremy Abrahams (Underdog Booking Agency) and work placements at Rich Mix in Marketing, Operations, Programming, Fundraising and the Executive Team.
Hear what this year’s New Creatives had to say about taking part in the programme:
In addition to our core New Creatives strand we also offered drop-in sessions on Wednesday evenings in music and film – reaching 60 young people across 52 sessions, some of whom also attended the New Creatives training.
Participants in our Music Makers sessions learnt how to produce, engineer, record and perform their own work. They received expert guidance and mentoring from leading industry professionals in the Garage and Grime scene including producer, DJ and Rinse FM star Reeko, producer and promoter Izco and Mobo award-nominated MC Capo Lee.
In our Behind the Screens workshops, delivered in partnership with Creative Director Omar A-Awuah, young people learnt practical filmmaking skills with sessions in camera operation, lighting, composition and editing. They then collaborated with the New Creatives, creating an incredible professional trailer to advertise this year’s Last Day of Summer festival.
We were also able to offer our young people additional performances opportunities throughout the year, with regular open mic music nights and a special appearance form our New Creatives at All Points East – performing live on stage to over 1000 people!
Beyond New Creatives, The Rich Mix Youth Board held four meetings in 2025, a key way Rich Mix involves young people in our decision-making process.
One suggestion which came from the Youth Board was the formation of a youth film club which led to our young people creating Black in Season – a season of cinema sharing Black cinema from the past with new younger audiences. Our young people, including several from our Behind the Screens cohort, sold out all four screenings with over 1,000 people in attendance, designing the logo, creating marketing content, producing the event and attracting a huge inter-generational audience.
The young people were also given the opportunity to take over our cinema bar and run free events for young people to encourage audience development and create a lively atmosphere in the bar. This included Finding The Gemz, an open mic, networking and cypher event, with over sixty young people in attendance and an unmissable Hip Hop Quiz.
It’s been a truly incredible year and we couldn’t be prouder of our young people. Interested in taking part in New Creatives 2026? Find out more about the programme and sign up here!
New Creatives is funded and support by:
