Creative Youth Opportunities (CYO), a non-profit organisation, has received a £1,998 grant from the Banks Group.
The funding will allow the group to continue running its weekly after-school arts sessions at Seaham Town Hall.
CYO aims to provide youngsters aged five to 17 with the opportunity to try different artistic activities.Trying different artistic activities (Image: CYO)
The programme has around 40 young people involved, with older volunteers playing a role in planning and running the sessions for the younger participants.
The grant will cover CYO’s staffing costs for the 37 term-time sessions planned for the year.
Seaham Town Council is supporting this ambition by providing free access to the town hall.
Michelle Harland, CEO of Creative Youth Opportunities, said: “We use art in all its forms to enrich the lives of local children and young people, and they regularly amaze us with the quality and creativity of the work they produce.
“Involving our older members in planning and delivering our Seaham sessions for their younger peers gives them a real sense of ownership and it’s great to see how this helps them develop as people, as well as artists.
“This type of project really helps to connect young people to their peers and their community, but it can be difficult to find the funding to make it happen.
“The Banks Group’s support has given us a solid platform from which we can plan our activity programme for the year with certainty and we’ve got lots of exciting ideas for what we’re going to deliver for local young people through 2025.”
Lucy Hinds, executive assistant at the Banks Group, said: “CYO is helping to open the artistic horizons of young people in our home county and is providing them with opportunities which might otherwise be out of reach to them.
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“We’re very pleased to be helping them to keep delivering their excellent work in Seaham and look forward to seeing what their young artists create throughout the year to come.”
CYO has already made a mark in the town with an eye-catching Christmas display in the town hall window and the installation of their Byron And On And On project.
The project, funded by Historic England, tells the stories of five remarkable women who have made a significant impact in Seaham.