Sefton Council’s ‘Made By You’ Initiative Offers Borough’s Young Artists Mentoring from Internationally Acclaimed Sefton Creatives

Sefton Council, working with consultants Counterculture, is offering young artists in the borough a golden opportunity to be mentored by a group of highly successful and internationally recognised creative professionals, all of whom are still based in Sefton.

Young artists (aged 12-18) are invited to tell their stories about Sefton by submitting their own piece of creative work – a short film, an original song or piece of music, creative writing, dance, photography, visual or digital art.

A selection of six lucky young people will receive mentoring sessions from Fran Doran and Mike McDermott of the band Red Rum Club, music producer Mike Cave, playwright and screenwriter Chloe Moss, creative consultant Yaw Owusu, actor and filmmaker Nick Moss, and Becky Ayres, Managing Director of Sound City.

Sefton Council, alongside The Atkinson, Green Sefton, Natural England and National Trust are also asking Sefton’s primary school children (aged 5-11) to submit their creative work, inspired by Sefton’s beautiful natural environment. A selection of this work will be displayed as part of a Made By You online exhibition curated by The Atkinson.

Meet the Mentors

Mick Cave

Mike Cave, who has worked with legendary rapper KRS 1, Fatboy Slim and Lewis Capaldi amongst many others, said: “I hope we can make some connections between Sefton’s young artists and the world of creative opportunities out there for them.” mikecave.co.uk

Chloe Moss

Chloe Moss has seen her plays performed internationally from London to New York and has written for the BBC, Channel 4, ITV and Sky. “Sefton is a borough so rich in creative talent,” she said, “the arts is a route to empowering young people, helping them find their voice and sense of self. I’m really excited to see the creative work produced by young people for this initiative.” casarotto.co.uk/clients/chloe-moss

Red Rub Club

Hailing from Waterloo, Crosby and Thornton, Red Rum Club scored a number 1 on the iTunes Alternative Chart with their debut album ‘Matador’, and are about to conquer America with a US tour including headline shows in New York and LA. redrumclub.com

Yaw Owusu

Yaw Owusu has worked with Google, MTV, MOBO, Universal, Levi’s, LFC and many more – in 2022 he was awarded an Honoured Friend of Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts by Sir Paul McCartney. byyawowusu.com

Nick Moss

Nick Moss won a raft of awards including Best UK Short Film at Manchester International Festival for his deeply moving short film ‘Break’ starring John Hurt, which was shot on the Waterloo seafront. imdb.com/name/nm0609049

Becky Ayres

Becky Ayres has made a huge impact in her work for Sound City, the UK lead festival for Keychange, the global movement for gender equality in music. She has just been nominated for a Music Week Women in Music Award. plus.soundcity.uk.com/speaker/becky-ayres-sound-city

How to get involved

Young People Aged 12-18

To submit a piece of work to the mentors and complete the survey, click this link to enter. Submissions close at midnight Monday 18 September: https://forms.gle/j1yVfA2szPuyRzgS9

Tell us a story about Sefton, by…

Making a short film (maximum 2 minutes long)
Creating / performing your own song or piece of music (maximum 2 minutes long)
Submitting a piece of creative writing (maximum 2 sides of A4, or 2 minutes of video footage)
Choreographing/performing your own dance piece (maximum 2 minutes of video footage)
Taking a photograph or creating a piece of visual / digital art

To complete the survey only, click this link. We would love to hear about the creative activities you participate in and what inspires your creativity: https://forms.gle/vFG4rJotjZjNT52R8

Survey Questions:

Can you tell us about anything in Sefton that inspires you to be creative?
Can you tell us about the creative activities you most enjoy / are most involved in?
Are there any creative activities you would like to see or do more of that are not available to you in Sefton?

Young People Aged 5-11

To submit artwork to the online exhibition and complete the survey, click here: https://forms.gle/xRixTfZUvLuUwyzC8

Please send us a photography of your artwork, inspired by getting outside and enjoying Sefton’s beautiful coast and countryside. You could share a…

A painting or drawing
A poem or piece of writing (maximum one side of A4 paper)
Arts and crafts

We would like to know what you think about creativity in Sefton. To complete the survey only, click here: https://forms.gle/6khr6uRAAzKXEDS77

Survey Questions:

What are your favourite creative activities in Sefton, in and outside of school?
How does being creative make you feel?
Is there anything creative you’d like to do but you’re not able to?