A young person at UWL's Saturday Club doing arts and crafts
A young person at UWL's Saturday Club doing arts and crafts

UWL’s Saturday Club – supporting west London youth for over a decade

Intro

For more than ten years the University of West London Ealing campus has experienced a transformation on Saturday mornings becoming home to ‘Saturday Club’ where 13–16-year-olds get to study a creative subject, culminating in a national exhibition at Somerset House.

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The initiative is a UWL outreach programme delivered in conjunction with schools from the Ealing and Hounslow area and the wider National Saturday Club network.

Saturday Club is inspired by the arts schools of the late 1940s and 1970s who would open their doors to give young people a taste of what it would be like to study art after leaving school. The Club is an exceptional opportunity to build young people’s creative skills and give them confidence to become the next generation of imaginative thinkers.

The first National Art & Design Saturday Club took place in 2009. In 2016, the Saturday Club Trust was launched as an independent charity to take over the development of the National Saturday Club from its creators the Sorrell Foundation. UWL has been hosting Saturday Club since 2011.

Two members of UWL's Outreach team at the Saturday Club

UWL Club members are nominated by local schools and must be from an underrepresented group. The inaugural UWL Saturday Club report delivered by the Saturday Club network shows that 67 percent of club members are from a minority ethnic background. Moreover, 44 percent are from families where a parent never went to university.

This year the theme is ‘Society and Change’ and UWL’s programme runs between November 2023 and March 2024.

We have split the varied programme into three strands: ‘Food Justice’, ‘Food as Art’ and ‘Food as Medicine’. This is a massive project between UWL and the local community,”

says UWL Outreach Officer and Saturday Club lead tutor Jordan Campbell.

Two young people at UWL's Saturday Club doing arts and crafts

In one session during the ‘Food Justice’ strand, UWL Head of Environment and Sustainability Nasrin Khanom will be working with attendees to create learning materials on sustainable food. In the ‘Food as Art’ strand, they will get to experience UWL’s acclaimed Pillars kitchen. In one of the ’Food as Medicine’ sessions, club members will be offered outdoor food-growing and creative sessions courtesy of Ealing charity MindFood.

At the end of the year Club members participate in a summer show featuring their creative work and celebrating their achievements, curated by accomplished exhibition designers.

A graduation ceremony with tutors, guest speakers, family, friends and other members of the National Saturday Club network concludes the programme at Somerset House in central London.

Krishna portrait

Krishna Maroo, UWL Outreach Manager and Board Trustee for Saturday Club comments,

At UWL we are committed to supporting and creatively inspiring young people who may not otherwise have these opportunities. Widening participation is at the heart of everything we do. Our free Saturday Club programme has such a positive impact in the lives of young people in our local community.”

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