Free support for young creatives in east London

Spotlight’s Get Creative programme is designed to help you unleash your creativity and explore your ideas like never before. Whether you’re an experienced artist or a beginner, we welcome all backgrounds and abilities.

Express yourself and explore your passions in a safe, welcoming environment.

We are a space to meet like-minded friends, develop your creative skills, and have fun along the way.

See what’s on this term and experience the power of youth-first creativity.

See what’s on

VOICES

SPOTLIGHT’S GET CREATIVE STORIES

“Normally, I would be really shy, like in school, but here I express how I really feel.” – Youth Theatre

Spotlight Sounds 

Are you a new artist? writing lyrics? Thinking about producing new beats? Or even want to learn how to perform and record? The Spotlight Sounds crew are here to support you on every step of your development as an artist.

Creative Industry Access

Wondering about your future? At Spotlight we partner with industry professionals to help you unlock creative career paths.

Our Grime Exposè programme in partnership with Mammoth Screen and 14HQ breaks down routes and careers in Grime Music.

Find out more about creative career routes from Ruff Sqwad, The Young V&A, and many more inspirational people and partners at Spotlight.

Creative Industry Access events are on throughout the term:

Find out more

“I was always getting into trouble, you know… if you had nothing to do after school, trouble will come looking for you…Here, I can be myself. I have friends, I can make music the way I want. I feel supported and safe.” – Young Person, 17

DJ K – Kyell’s creative journey with Spotlight

Kyell discovered his love for DJing at a taster session called Creative Café at Spotlight. He enjoyed using DJ controllers to queue tracks and learn fading and EQ techniques. He then joined the DJ Clash programme to improve his skills and was given the chance to perform to a large crowd at a community festival. Kyell is only 11 years old but is already contributing to the cultural identity of Tower Hamlets through his live performances. Kyell’s achievements show how Spotlight helps to opens doors for young people to discover their hidden skills and talents.

“Our community is creative and I love that about us!” – Street Art Saturday Club

Home – A Spotlight and Olivia Rose project

What does Home mean to you? In our collaborative programme with Grime photographer Oliva Rose we explored this through a shared poetry and photography project.

“I really loved learning all the tools to make my idea happen. I would know how to use these tools again next time I want to do a project.” – Summer Holidays programmes

Podcast Starz

Welcome to Podcast Starz! The deep, thoughtful and comedic Podcast hosted by East London Youth – Who have got something to say!

Podcast Starz is your chance to learn how to produce and host your own podcast.

Join the conversation on Instagram / Twitter @weare_spotlight

Performance and Dance

Dance

Spotlight hosts the Contemporary and Hip Hop dance crews IMD LEGION, One Youth Dance and more.

In partnership with BLINK Dance, SEND youth can express themselves through movement and dance.

Performance

It’s an exciting time to join Youth Theatre at Spotlight, be in a play where the script, production, director and actors lead on it all!

See our current timetable:

See What’s On

Latest Get Creative News and Research

Join the team as a Creative Theatre Producer!

Could you be Spotlight’s next Creative Theatre Producer?

The Creative Producer (Theatre) will be an integral part of Spotlights ‘In-House’ Creative team.

Spotlight aims to support young people’s emotional and economic growth through the arts and as the Creative Producer (Theatre) you are responsible for the positive growth of the creative programme, and the continued development of the way we work with young people. You will be focused on (but not limited to) the development of the Theatre offer and supporting the progression of its participants.

Apply here: Creative Producer (Theatre) | Poplar HARCA

Arts Access: Creative Youth Work Report

Access to the arts is a social justice issue.

Research shows that young people who participate in the arts are more resilient, healthier, do better in school, are more connected to their communities, are more likely to vote, to go to university, to get a job and keep it.

Access should be unaffected by class, income, race, disability, or location. But the complexity of engaging diverse groups of young people means many are missing out on opportunities.

www.wearespotlight.com/creative-youth-work-report/

Success for Spotlight and Young V&A Partnership

We’re excited to celebrate a successful partnership, with eight collaborative youth first projects to date.

Young People have gained experience from professional artists in areas of: Fashion and design, Filmmaking, Sculpture / building, Games Design, Sound Design and Fine Art.

“Young V&A highly value the partnership with Spotlight. With the closure of the Museum of Childhood and a new vision to engage creatively with a wider range of children and young people, Spotlight has been a perfect strategic partner. Our shared ambition to engage 11-14 year olds has enabled us to learn from each other as peers and to have a open approach to community based and sustainable collaboration.”