Children’s Capital of Culture Traineeship Programme

A key part of the project is our Children’s Capital of Culture traineeship programme. This gives 16-to-25-year-olds who live, work or study in Rotherham the chance to work with some of our region’s most vibrant cultural organisations on innovative creative projects.

Since 2022, we have employed over 120 young people across seventeen different local organisations. From helping put on an international documentary festival in the heart of Sheffield, to turning historic country house Wentworth Woodhouse into a home for digital arts, to bringing a 70-metre-high sculpture to the heart of Clifton Park, our trainees have worked with their host organisations to create an amazing series of activities and events.

Here's a snapshot of the achievements of some of our current trainees:

• Trainees with Sheffield DocFest: have curated, booked, and promoted a season of eight documentary film screenings in locations across the Rotherham borough. They’ve also liaised with venues, community groups and schools to run an accompanying creative programme of talks and workshops.
• Trainees with Rotherham United Community Trust: are running creative activities in the FanZone at every Rotherham United FC Saturday home game. They’re producing a diverse and accessible range of activities to help create more family engagement at match days and make the stadium a more creative and friendly space. Their activities often links to different key awareness days and months, or promotes the work of local charities and organisations.
• Trainees with Hybrid3: are planning and delivering a programme of 20 workshops in schools and youth groups across the borough. These workshops enable participants to create their own brand-new podcasts and audio dramas, building on Hybrid3’s tried-and-tested StoryBombs model.
• Alumni trainees with RNN Group: ran a wide range of activities for students across RNN Group’s campuses, all themed around the FREDIE principles (Fairness, Respect, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Engagement). This included a full day of exciting workshops, stalls and performances, all planned and programmed by the alumni trainees.
• Trainees with Gulliver’s Valley are helping develop and launch Skills Street. An immersive and innovative careers training experience that will inspire and inform children, young people and adults from across South Yorkshire and beyond, Skills Street is set to open this summer!

And much, much more!

Our traineeship programme aims to reduce barriers for diverse young people to enter the cultural and creative industry, create meaningful pathways into the sector, and nurture the next generation of talent.

Of the 59 trainees in our 2022 cohort, 70% went onto further employment, education or training within three months of their traineeships ending. And across our latest cohort, host organisations have given seven of their trainees contract extensions. On top of this, another four trainees have been offered new “alumni” roles across the wider Children’s Capital of Culture programme.

Children’s Capital of Culture has successfully applied to the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) for further funding to expand and develop the programme, through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).

We are delighted to now be giving more organisations the opportunity to host trainees as part of this UKSPF-funded programme.

We are currently looking for organisations who can host trainees from either June 2025 or August 2025. We can offer funding for traineeships to run for between six-to-eight months, and for either two or three days per week.

Organisations who host Children’s Capital of Culture trainees benefit from:

• talented young people joining their workforce
• access to training and networking for their wider staff team
• support to co-produce and market brand-new events and activities taking place in the Rotherham borough as part of the Children’s Capital of Culture Festival Year

The trainees’ wages and on-costs are fully funded by Children’s Capital of Culture, and host organisations can also apply for a further creative programming budget if they wish.

Local children and young people have told us that their definition of culture is an all-encompassing one, that includes arts, crafts and creative activities, sport and leisure, and identity and heritage. As such, we are welcoming a wide range of organisations from different sectors to apply to host Children’s Capital of Culture trainees. These trainees will work on projects that will enable their host organisations to successfully deliver Children’s Capital of Culture across 2025, as well as contributing towards its legacy.