Salford young people discover future careers thanks to Career Connect and The Lowry

A group of young people (pictured) at the start of their behind-the-scenes tour of The Lowry — Discover Your Future participants had the opportunity to meet venue staff and find out about the range of careers available at The Lowry.

A glimpse behind the scenes at The Lowry with a focus on careers in an arts venue are just some of the activities young people can try during Career Connect Salford’s Discover Your Future programme.

Delivered in partnership with Lowry , Discover Your Future was designed for local 16–18-year-olds not currently in education, employment or training. It offers the opportunity to build career skills, explore new career paths and gain experience to add to CVs.

Discovering The Lowry

At Lowry, young people have the opportunity to talk to staff and discover what the gallery does and the various careers it supports, including venue management, marketing, sound and lighting technicians, stage management, health and safety, box office, corporate hospitality and more. They also get a special behind-the-scenes tour showing how everything works and how the various job roles fit together in this award-winning national venue. At the end of the tour, everyone has the chance to take part in a hands-on mocktail making workshop, delivered by the Lowry hospitality team.

Discover Your Future is held 2-3 times per year over half term.

Discover Your Future participants got a sneak peek behind the scenes at the various technical careers on offer. — Discover Your Future participants got to look behind-the-scenes and see some of the technical careers on offer in the arts world.

Discover Your Future participants had the opportunity to meet venue staff and find out about the range of careers available at The Lowry.

Young people also got a sneak peek behind the scenes to discover the different technical careers on offer.

Fraser Thomas, Youth Employability and Skills Manager for The Lowry said:

It has been fantastic welcoming young people to The Lowry and collaborating with Career Connect to offer creative employability opportunities. I was impressed with how engaged and how well the young people interacted with the staff. Hopefully, we have opened a couple of more career avenues for them to explore. A couple of young people will be starting on a 10 week placement soon which is great! I look forward to our next collaboration soon.

Fraser Thomas Youth Employability and Skills Manager for Lowry

Discovering Confidence, Resilience and Manga Art

At the Langworthy Cornerstone, Stacy Gray from The Big Life Group shared tips and advice to help build young people’s confidence and resilience while finding jobs, training or college courses. Local artist Paul Pickford delivered an interactive workshop on how to create Manga/Anime artwork, and there were special sessions about work and training from local providers including YMCA Training, Manchester Beauty College, The Princes Trust, Salford City College Apprenticeship team and others.

Local artist Paul Pickford delivered an interactive workshop on how to create Manga/Anime artwork. — Local artist Paul Pickford delivered an interactive workshop on how to create Manga/Anime artwork during the Discover Your Future day.

Participant’s Feedback

What our participants said:

It was great seeing the various job roles, especially the art galleries and stagework.

I really liked the drawing and interaction, and when people talked to us about colleges and apprenticeships.

I’m so glad I came. It was calmer and more easy-going than I expected. Everyone was really welcoming.

Zaihera Chaudhry from Career Connect Salford said:

“The feedback we’ve had from Discover Your Future has been great and this has been one of the best loved events that we’ve ever delivered. Staff from our local partners were super encouraging and made sure to include everyone who took part – whether confident or shy. Everyone I spoke to said they thoroughly enjoyed the activities, and many said it was nice to get out and meet others in the same position as them. We’ll be looking at doing more activities, centred around mindfulness and retail, in the coming months.”

Zaihera Chaudry Engagement Worker, Career Connect

What’s Next?

Discover Your Future will return at the end of May 2024, and the team are already developing a programme looking at various aspects of social media/marketing, plus wellbeing strategies for people looking for work, education or training courses.