Join youth initiative Elevate Us at The Love Inn tonight
Posted on: 15 Dec 2021The recently launched platform and collective aims to help 18-25 year-olds gain experience in and better understand the creative, events, and festival sectors.
Tonight, Wednesday 15 December, youth initiative Elevate Us takes over The Love Inn from 19:00 to 00:00, creating a space for emerging creatives and industry professionals within Bristol to make connections.
A range of exciting homegrown talent who have not found the music industry typically accessible will also be showcased at the event, with Chiedza, Millie Watts, Athena, TrES-2B, KonMan, LTS, Mountain and Palma all performing.
This event is FREE for all. Grab a ticket here.
Elevate Us, an initiative created by and for 18-25 year-olds, is designed to connect local emerging talent with each other and established professionals through a series of networking and industry events.
Supported by Big Team, a separate initiative founded by Team Love in 2019, Elevate Us is likewise geared to address issues of underrepresentation and barriers to participation in the creative, events and festival sectors.
The collective is especially interested in engaging with young people, hoping to inspire and empower them by introducing them to and providing opportunities - making the events, festival and creative sectors more accessible.’
Elevate Us operates under a set of core values, namely: empowerment and inclusivity regardless of gender, race, class, and sexual orientation; progressing aspirations by breaking down barriers to entry; and, finally, creating a safe, fun, and easily accessible environment for a diverse group of people who are unified in passion, motivation, and outlook.
In a statement, Elevate Us said: [the initiative] "intends to create a community of like-minded individuals who are unified in outlook and motivation, coming together to start a conversation on how the industry can be more accessible for all, and celebrate the thriving creative scene that the city of Bristol has to offer.
"Through our industry networking events, we want to explore the different routes that people can take within the industry, and enthesis that one’s skill set is good enough to progress and be celebrated within that space."
The initiative couldn't have arrived at a better time as the arts and culture sector continues to count the cost of the pandemic, which has had a particularly profound impact on young people.
According to The House Of Commons Library, 728,000 people aged 16-24 were Not in Education, Employment, or Training (NEET) in January - March 2021. National data has also shown more than a quarter (27%) of creative workers under the age of 25 left creative occupations after lockdown.
The statement also reads: "even pre-pandemic, there has been a long standing under-representation of minority groups, those from working class backgrounds, and those without a degree qualification working within the creative sector for a variety of different reasons.
"Elevate Us intends to encourage a more diverse range of young people, who are from all walks of life, to consider working in the creative, events, and festival sectors. Working together as a collective to be the next generation of established professionals within the events, festival or creative sector."
Find tickets for FREE here.
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George is a journalism graduate and writer passionate about music and culture. Get in touch via email at george@365bristol.com
