About Step into the Arts
Step into the Arts was a youth-led fund to provide opportunities and support for young people to get involved in the arts, especially young people who might not usually be able to access them. It was designed by a team of young grantmakers, recruited and trained by Youth Scotland, in partnership with Creative Scotland. £65,000 was available to young people aged 5 – 25 from across Scotland. The fund was divided into two strands:
- First Steps into the Arts – for young people who have some, a little or no experience with the arts, and want to explore them further
- Next Steps into the Arts – for young people who have experience in the arts, want to improve their practice, and may be considering a creative career
Fund criteria
Please note that the fund is now closed to applications. When open, the fund offered support to projects that were completely youth-led, with the project idea coming from the young person or young people who decided on what to put in the application and carried out the project if they were successful. The fund was designed to support projects that met one or more of the criteria below (projects that met three or more of the criteria points were prioritised):
- Enable young people to access the arts who might otherwise face barriers
- Use arts to support young people’s self-expression
- Use arts to support young people’s mental health and wellbeing
- Use arts to get young people’s voices and perspectives heard
- Will have a lasting impact on the young people doing the project
What are the arts?
Our Youth Panel spent some time thinking about what the arts are. You can see some of their thoughts below.
