Watch: Care-experienced young people call for better access to arts through billboard campaign

Articulate Cultural Trust has launched its latest campaign which oversees a series of emotive billboards placed around Glasgow to highlight the importance of access to arts and culture. The aim of the project is to change a law to ensure creative expression is embedded within all care plans, upholding Article 31 of The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which states that Governments should ensure children can be part of cultural and artistic activities, allowing them to play and relax in a safe, supportive and stimulating environment. Marking a landmark moment for children’s rights, in December, Scotland became the first devolved nation to incorporate the UNCRC into domestic law, and most of its provisions will come into force by July 2024.

Articulate is a locally-founded charity which uses creativity to encourage care-experienced and marginalised young people to express themselves and fulfil their ambitions. They provide direct support to help build skills and offer a voice and platform for the youths who share these passions and wish to use them as a tool for emotional, ecological, social and economical wellbeing. 

The billboards are intended to empower spectators to live creative and cultural lives. In addition, the campaign will include a series of workshops, exhibitions and events - handkerchief and textile designing, film screenings, poetry readings - to offer a diverse range of opportunities to explore talents. 

Speaking to Eona Craig, CEO of the Articulate Cultural Trust, she said: “We put the arts and the cultural landscapes at the finger tips of these young people and they explore and experiment their own cities and regions in order to fully understand their place in the world. 

“One of the things we are particularly proud of right now is our creative change makers. They are eight care experienced emerging artists who want to use their ability to shape narrative around things they want to see improved in society. They use a concept that we call ‘artivism’. They currently are wanting much fairer access to arts and culture for all care experienced young people. The one way they think that’s possible is to ask people in power is that they think about putting Article 31 into every Scottish child’s plan.“