FUTURE LEADERS INTERNATIONAL
A 5-day hybrid lab to support young creative freelancers in Bristol, Durban, and Lagos, and connect them internationally.
The Client:
British Council / Watershed
Sector:
Creative Sector
Service:
Advisory and Project Management
Duration:
4 Months
The Challenge
How can we develop the leadership capacities of young city-based creatives at a time when their ability to thrive is particularly threatened?
Nigeria’s population of 180 million has a median age of 19. Youth make up 48.9% of the total workforce and of this number, over half are either unemployed or underemployed. Young people are more likely to face difficulties securing employment and it is estimated that COVID 19 related global economic recession will worsen these figures.
This project sought to create platforms that bring together and support young creative freelancers - particularly women - to explore the agency that comes through co-creating, learning, and sharing and then apply this to living a fuller life in their city.
The SOLUTION
We produced a set of creative (hybrid) labs run simultaneously across Lagos, Bristol, and Durban in partnership with Watershed (UK), and Substance Point (Durban). These labs, and the activity around them, supported a cohort of 18 young creative freelancers – six from each city – connecting them internationally. The themes explored were developed in response to local needs and context namely: Climate Justice, Future Heritage, and Resilient Futures.
The outcome
The key outcomes from the Lab include:
Individual skills development of creative freelancers as future leaders with a focus on creative confidence, active learning, interpersonal skills, communal approaches, systems thinking, and commercial confidence.
A generative network of ongoing opportunities that has created the possibility for further collaboration between partners and participants.
An opportunity for participants to generate and publish their creative work based on their lab reflections. The Lab reflections are linked below:
Future Leaders International Lab Film
“Collaborating with Made Culture on our international lab has been a brilliant experience. The team bring commitment, insight, and joy to a project and have the rare quality of really understanding partnership. From strategic vision to operational detail they say what they mean, and they mean what they say – we can’t wait to work with them again.”