University News Last updated 15 November 2018
A new two-day project will examine how to improve Birmingham’s spaces to better serve its young people.
Beatfreeks, which uses creativity to improve the future of the Birmingham’s young people, has teamed up with Birmingham City University and Eastside Projects’ STEAMhouse initiative, in a bid to improve the city’s offering for its young people.
The new ‘STEAMlab’ event, which will take place on November 20 – 21, will give people the opportunity to work collaboratively with businesses, artists and academics to find real-world solutions to empower the city’s youth.
Attendees will be tasked with looking at how the city’s buildings, public spaces and environments can be altered to enhance its offering for those growing up in Birmingham.
The event comes after the Birmingham Youth Trends report revealed that there is a growing gap between young people and the city’s public and private institutions.
It calls for improved links between the second city’s young people and improvements to Birmingham’s spaces which could be used for youth activities following the decline of youth centres.
Amy Clamp, Head of Partnerships at Free Radical, a part of Beatfreeks which uses art, music and media to develop young artists, said: “As an organisation, we have seen the rapid decrease of public and civic spaces that are available for young people to safely and comfortably meet, socialise, discuss – the distinct lack of youth centres has had a serious impact.
“This PSPO will not solve the problem, and the threat of it raises the question – ‘who is our city centre for?’”
The STEAMhouse facility in Digbeth was opened earlier this year to provide a space to bring together collaboration between the arts, science, technology, engineering and maths.
It is also used to hold a series of events, masterclasses and workshops aimed at tackling issues facing Birmingham and the wider West Midlands.
Alexa Torlo, Engagement Manager at Birmingham City University, said: “STEAMhouse is about bringing people together to create innovative new solutions that will transform lives."