Thriving in the city, a collaboration between Battersea Arts Centre (BAC) and King's College London, was launched on 9 November in the new Scratch Hub at BAC. The project brought together artists, King’s academics, and third-sector professionals to consider a range of challenges facing young people in south London.

Through a range of creative and dynamic activities led by BAC facilitator, Bobbi Byrne, participants were able to discover shared interests, learn about each other’s practices and begin to identify potential project teams. 

There was a particular focus on those from vulnerable or marginalised groups, including youth offenders, care-leavers, non-native English speakers, and those with learning difficulties or mental-health problems.

The next phase of the scheme is a one-day workshop where inter-professional teams will devise a small creative intervention in response to each of the community-based challenges. Funding grants of £400 will be offered to teams who want to ‘scratch’ their idea: to test it in the community, gather feedback and evolve the idea so that it can be 'rolled out' or taken forward for further funding.

It is hoped that the programme will inspire impactful new relationships between King’s academics, artists and social enterprises, leading to effective collaborative responses to real problems in local communities. More broadly, the programme provides an opportunity to consider shared social and civic responsibilities as well as how groups might work more effectively within local ecologies.

The 'scratch' projects emerging from the scheme will be showcased at King’s College London in the new year.

For more information about the initiative contact kate.dunton@kcl.ac.uk.

Image credits: Anna Kim