As part of Brent 2020, London Borough of Culture, a Mayor of London initiative, Kiln Theatre’s The Agency is a scheme to support young Brent-based entrepreneurs between 15-25 years old develop ideas for social change in their area, turning their passion into a project. Using their needs and desires, research into local community, and support from artists and local networks, the Agents created brand new ideas as potential business plans. Three Agents have been awarded £2000 each to develop their ideas for social change – a podcast that tells the story of care leavers, a programme to enable young people to make films about issues affecting them, and an archive of the people in places in Harlesden undergoing regeneration.
The successful business ideas were chosen by an expert panel of Dawn Austwick (Chief Executive, The National Lottery Community Fund and Kiln Theatre Chair of the Board), Jonathan Badyal (Head of Communications, Universal Music), Muhammed Butt (Leader of Brent Council), Indhu Rubasingham (Kiln Theatre Artistic Director), Sydney Sylvah (The Agency Alumni, Battersea, founder of Sydney’s Naturals) and Nathaniel Telemaque (St Raphael’s Estate resident and artist) – and will continue to be developed with support from industry experts and leaders.
Sancia, a successful Agent said, “Being an Agent makes me feel like a young entrepreneur; encouraged, empowered, and educated enough to take pride in my pain to provide social change within my community. It has given me the opportunity to be a part of a positive community, seeking to make social change for the wider community.”
Kiln Theatre has continued to give professional training, support and advice to 22 young people from the London Borough of Brent to make a project that will make a meaningful change to benefit their local community. During lockdown, The Agency Project Manager Gemma Rowan and a team of specialist facilitators continued regular contact, encouraging the young people to think about their communities, to respond creatively to the Coronavirus situation and to develop their business pitches. A number of industry experts and Brent’s Blueprint Collective led creative workshops, to hone and help each Agent with their pitch.
Cllr Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council said, “Young people have taken the lead in developing the Brent 2020 programme, no more so than through The Agency project where each and every young person has shared their genuinely inspiring ideas about life in Brent and making change for their generation and beyond. It has been wonderful to hear directly from the Agents about what they want to see and how we can make that happen.”
Originally conceived by Marcus Faustini in Rio de Janeiro, The Agency UK is a Battersea Arts Centre and Contact programme devised in partnership with People’s Palace Projects. It is designed to have a transformative impact on participants. Previous Agents have gone on develop live music enterprises that have reached over 100,000 people, partner with Chelsea Football Club to create innovative English language learning programmes, and work for global consultants Ernst & Young as Careers Consultant for Young People in Care. The Agency in Waltham Forest, London Borough of Culture 2019, was delivered by Blackhorse Workshop, who were then inspired to establish Blackhorse Responders, a new youth programme in creative activism
Successful Pitches
Living History by Michael
A co-created archiving project and an installation that documents the stories of people and places in areas of Harlesden undergoing regeneration.
Sancia’s Podcast
A podcast that tells the story of young care leavers in Brent and the stories of the people who support them. Aims to change the narrative about care leavers and offer advice.
Film4Thought by Berlyn, Lina, Nathan & Yusra
A project for young people in Wembley where young people take the lead in planning and shooting their own short films around pertinent topics: family issues, gangs, body image and sexual assault. Young people will learn film making and editing skills.
One other project which Kiln Theatre wanted to support and is looking at raising further money to help realise is Consent First by Fizza, a creative project for young girls in Wembley providing making and design skills and education around consent and sexual assault. Fizza’s Go Fund Me page can be found here.
