From 10-31 July, summer of somewhereto_ gave 16-25 year olds the opportunity to showcase their talent and creativity in various locations throughout the UK with the goal of supporting young people and their ideas. Each city hosted a range of one-off events from live music performances to market stalls selling wares produced by young designers. One somewhereto_ ambassador curated an art exhibition in a warehouse involving over a hundred artists. Watch impressions of the summer of somewhereto_ below:

summer of somewhereto_ highlights

Twenty-five year old Ashleigh Ward served as Feelance Regional Coordinator for somewhereto_SE, organising and curating an exhibition at a warehouse in Brighton with over one hundred artists. Here he talks about his somewhereto_ experience:

Launching summer of somewhereto_ in Brighton has been the biggest exhibition I have ever organised. I managed to secure a huge warehouse space in Circus Street, which allowed me to pull together all the talented young artists and give them a space to exhibit and perform. I just knew that for a big creative festival like summer of somewherto_ there was nowhere better than this huge abandoned warehouse in Brighton.

I had three key members that helped me make this event happen. Al from Iklect is starting his own collective and has a number of artists he wanted to exhibit. Becky (first year sculptor at University of Brighton) was a good leader so I put her in charge of the sculptors. She did an amazing job of organising and curating the 3D element to the show.

Hannah from Canopy Creative was the first young person I met in my new job role as freelance delivery partner for somewhereto_SE, so when I secured Circus Street, I knew I wanted her to bring her amazing ideas to the venue. She built and hung Sussex meadows from the ceiling which had a long table underneath. This brought a beautiful elegance to the industrial warehouse.

The variety of the show was brilliant. Not only did we have over 100 artists exhibiting, but we also had amazing workshops and events. One of my favourite workshops was the 3D projection-mapping workshop from the collective L.E.G, a rare opportunity to learn 3D projection-mapping for free.

The opening night saw more then 700 guests come through the door. The few people that I got to talk to on the opening night loved the show. I spoke to someone that worked at Lighthouse Gallery and he said that this show didn’t feel like Brighton but had a Berlin feel to it, which was incredible to hear.

When I closed the shutters at the end of the opening night, the crowd outside cheered and clapped, which was a lovely moment. Seeing it all come together so wonderfully made me feel proud to be part of somewhereto_ which gives young people this incredible opportunity.The support of the public has been really positive and seeing them blown away but what we’ve all achieved, has been the most rewarding.

Here twenty-four year old artist and somewhereto_ Glasgow ambassador, Kerrigan Renniegade talks about her experience of the project:

I am a young artist from a small village outside of Glasgow, called Salsburgh. I have been drawing and painting from a very young age and last year I became unemployed. This was a huge blow to my confidence as a young emerging artist, and I needed something to keep me creatively stimulated. I started volunteering with Depot Arts in a place called The Imaginarium in Possil, and it was here that I found out about somewhereto_. I had no idea that this amazing organisation would honestly change my life.

Through my volunteering there have been some really interesting opportunities that have been really positive for me. Earlier on this summer I was asked to be the official young ambassador for ‘summer of somewhereto_’ in Glasgow, and I was honoured to be part of this project.

Summer of somewhereto_  was about celebrating our talented generation, and giving young people a platform to express their ideas. Without the help of the somewhereto_ and their team I wouldn’t have been able to present my first solo art exhibition this summer. My project manager Ian Findlay (who delivers somewhereto_ in Glasgow) was absolutely brilliant. Ian helped me secure O2 Think Big funding which helped me buy art materials, contribute to travel costs and deliver my whole exhibition event.

I have several friends who are involved in the Glasgow hip-hop music scene and as a regular attendee to gigs and battles, I was always inspired by how they expressed themselves. As an artist I always dreamed of contributing something to the local hip-hop scene through my own artwork. And with the help of somewhereto_, this became a reality, when we came up with the idea of “The Art Of Hip-Hop Exhibition”, which showcased portraits I’d painted of my musically talented friends, depicting their skills in areas such as beat boxing, DJing, rapping, and spoken word performance.

somewhereto_ helped me find the space to work on my paintings, and secured a place to express myself to a wider audience. Having a solo art exhibition is something I have thought about from a very young age. I’m a huge believer in following your creative passions and I’ve always loved the idea of people looking at my work and feeling inspired and happy.

Over the last few months my confidence has soared, and I have gained skills that I never thought I would have! I’ve learned how to organise a huge event from the very beginning to the end. The exhibition launch night had an amazing turn out of people in support, with live performances from the subjects in my artwork. Everyone loved my pieces overall and it was extremely rewarding to see all of our hard work pay off.

See more of Kerrigan’s work in this video:

Get involved with somewhereto_ here.

somewhereto_ is a UK wide youth programme delivered by Livity and funded by a £7m grant from the Big Lottery Fund to support its nationwide expansion to 2016.

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