A New Direction is a company, which helps London learn, think and create. They work to ensure that all children and young people get the most out of London’s extraordinary creative and cultural offer. They work with young people between the ages of 18-24 and have been delivering elements of ‘Creativity Works’ courses for the Mayor’s Fund for London.
Creativity Works is an intensive 4-6 week crash course in getting into the creative industries, which I’ve been able to be a part of. I have been exploring and developing my professional design skills by working alongside live clients and have had the privilege of working with companies like Fixperts, #LifeHacks, Islington Metal Works, NME Magazine and Jack Renwick Studio.
#Lifehacks was an event run by NME, which is also a music magazine who teamed up with Create Jobs to bring a day full of activities and ideas to help kick start careers in the creative industries. Together #LifeHacks gave 422 young adults advice and networking opportunities, 48 young adults work experience in events management, design and stage management and journalism, 6 young designers and events technicians paid work, 1 very talented lady a permanent position with NME, one new enterprise – Network and Chill – a platform to launce their concept and 16 businesses the opportunity to engage with their audiences.
Working in small groups we each had a space within the NME Hackspace to curate three different experiences. The Hackspace was a place to get advice on mindfulness and anxiety, learn about different industries and even get interview makeovers. I was a part of the Mindfulness team helping to develop an area for visitors to come and try out different relaxing and de-stressing techniques. Overall it was a great experience to be able to listen to other peoples stories and help give advise on mindfulness techniques whilst interacting in a very hands-on way, offering yoga classes, welcoming people into a tranquil setting and discussing what was troubling them, and then being able to observe them finishing a session with us and hearing positive outcomes.
