Charity Metroland Cultures has announced two artist support and development programmes, with one dedicated to help youngsters into artistic careers.
The organisation behind the festival Brent Biennial has this week launched Metroland Young Associates, a paid creative career development opportunity for young people in Brent.
The second venture is Metroland Cohort: Peer-to-Peer, a programme to support visual artists of all ages in the borough through bursaries and professional development.
Lois Stonock, Metroland Cultures director, said: “Metroland Young Associates is an alternative education programme for up to 20 young people in Brent, aged 18-24, to develop their skills and access opportunities to enter paid employment in the arts and creative industries.
“This is a structured programme of training, mentorship, and opportunities to develop and deliver artistic programming. It will grow a cohort of young people who can become the future leaders, creatives and team of Metroland Cultures and other arts and culture organisations in Brent and beyond.”
Metroland Cultures was originally established to deliver Brent as the London Borough of Culture in 2020 - and the charity is committed to continuing its work.
Lois added: “Metroland Cultures will continue to deliver a programme of activity that will facilitate and build collaboration between artists and communities in Brent.
“It will do this through a rotating annual summer programme of visual arts and music festivals; an annual paid training programme for young people living in Brent that will inform Metroland’s programming and organisational development; an artist development programme offering paid bursaries and professional development; and a strand of programming and learning opportunities that will explore approaches to artist and community collaboration.”
The announcement for the programmes comes on the back of the announcement of the second Brent Biennial festival.
The event, held - as the name suggests, every other year, will be held from July 8 to September 11. It is the follow-up to the 2020 edition, which presented 36 artworks in libraries, streets and other places of everyday life around the borough.
For this year’s event, a new committee has been formed to organise it consisting of artists Abbas Zahedi, Adam Farah, and Jamila Prowse.
For more information, visit: metrolandcultures.com
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