Carlisle Youth Zone Celebrating Belonging at the Cultural Opportunity Zone (BeCOZ)

What does it mean to belong?

This is a question which we regularly explore with young people during their time at CYZ, and with thanks to funding via the UK Shared Prosperity fund, something we have dialled up the volume on in recent months through piloting new Cultural Opportunity Zone; working with partners to bring even more high quality cultural experiences to young people right here in their space.

51.3% of young people were interested in a career in the creative industries but only 4.2% actually work in creative jobs and only 1.8% are in creative apprenticeships. Source UK Youth Voice Censor 2023 - 4000YP 11+ were surveyed - all background and ethnicities

The specially funded UKSPF Project CYZ Belonging at the Cultural Opportunity Zone aka (BeCOZ). This amazing project brought quality cultural opportunities right into CYZ from the amazing organisations like Tullie, Theatre By The Lake and Blue Jam Arts as well as some amazing local independent artists and musicians. The project gave young people a true sense of pride and showed them what’s possible as well as helping partnering organisations better understand young people’s perspectives too.

We’re super proud to showcase the achievements through our film!