Introduction
This year (2025) Rotherham has become the world’s first Children’s Capital of Culture (CCoC). This title was bestowed upon Rotherham by its children and young people. It was devised by them to change the narrative about their hometown and create positive opportunities for children and young people across the borough.
The initiative has resulted in the creation of an inclusive skills and talent development programme, which has offered employment and training opportunities in the cultural and creative industries to children and young people from 2022 onwards.
The Youth Employment Study Group aims to connect organisations with specialist knowledge relating to employment opportunities for young people. The study group will offer a platform to share and develop best practice models and create sharable resources to support wider cultural organisations to create new and varied employment opportunities for young people in Rotherham and throughout the UK.
Rationale
Over the past three years CCoC has had great success in delivering various employment and skills development programmes, such as internships, Young Artist in Residence opportunities, Arts Award offers, and our flagship traineeship programme.
Through the development of these programmes, we are now able to share valuable learning on a local, regional, and national platform, and to champion the benefits organisations can gain by employing young people. We also recognise the areas in which we are keen to improve our provision, as such seek to do this through working in partnership with external specialists.