As our Creative Toolbox Participants move into the Graduate Programme, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the wonderful and uplifting year they have had. We welcomed 20 new young people in May 2025, our largest cohort yet, and the project has since grown and evolved into a space full of curiosity, connection and creativity. Alongside our five dedicated peer mentors, the Creative Toolbox participants brought lots of fresh energy and an openness and willingness to explore and have fun, which really set the tone for months of collaboration and experimentation.
At a time when the world has often felt heavy and uncertain, Creative Toolbox has offered something different – a space where young people can come together and express themselves freely and build lasting and meaningful friendships. They have explored a wide range of topics like poetry, printmaking and performance, as well as showcasing their work in exhibitions and going on exciting creative trips. The programme has not only nurtured their artistic skills but also built their confidence and helped them to gain a deeper understanding of self and community.
In this Q&A, our Creative Toolbox Lead, Georgia, reflects on the year, sharing her highlights and the impact of a creative community that continues to grow as a powerful beacon of positivity!
2025 was your biggest Creative Toolbox cohort yet. How did having twenty young people (including Peer Mentors) shape the energy of this year’s programme?
It was a very different energy shift this year as having more participants meant a lot more personalities with different interests and varying levels of confidence. What has been lovely to witnessthough, is each person has found someone they connect with. The group has a real supportive nature with each other and it’s really great watching them create with each other or independently but offering help and assistance to those who need it.
This year felt particularly joyful and playful – how did the group create that sense of lightness and connection?
It really was very playful. I think it comes from the participants themselves – I really encourage them to be who they want to be in that moment, and I think that freedom allows them to connect with each other in a way that perhaps they don’t get to, at school or in other groups. Every session is very fluid, going at the pace of participants’ needs and capabilities, and we work with some excellent artists who take this flexibility in their stride, making it a truly participant-led project. Ultimately, we want to induce happiness and joy through creativity, and to me, this means removing rigidity and letting their self-expression shine through in their own way.
The group explored such a wide range of artforms – from poetry and printmaking to drama, digital media and music. Did any sessions spark unexpected confidence or creativity?
I think the costume/textiles workshop really stood out to me. There were a couple of participants in particular who, when displayed with all of the old clothes and materials, felt overwhelmed with the quantity. Once they had time to rummage and layer different fabrics together, new ideas started to spark and I could see their confidence blossom in their own concepts. Giving them time to think was what they needed in order to allow their creativity to ignite. With that said, some participants got stuck in straight away, they loved the wide array of fabrics to choose from and had a plethora of ideas immediately. It goes to show how every mind is different and how creativity will never be the same in one person as it is to another. It was a session that really allowed their self-expression to shine, choosing fabrics and embellishments and patching them together in a way that spoke to them.
You mentioned writing group poetry and creating protest banners. How did young people use creativity to express what matters to them this year?
In the play, Mrs Campbell’s Class Fifth Period, there are three main characters, Bell, Mack & Clover. Bell is the quiet & observational one, Mack, the loud class clown and rule breaker & Clover, the rule follower and high achiever. Each has their own flaws and quirks as well as strengths, just as we all do in real life. Each participant instinctively gravitated to one of these charactersduring the creative writing workshop and added their own take to them while writing the I AM poems. They created mini zines about their chosen character and I noticed that the character history that they imagined for these characters were a small reflection of themselves, which I think is a really freeing way of talking about what matters to them personally, through the eyes of someone else.
The print making workshop was a great opportunity for the group to discuss what matters to them as a whole. The group had some really interesting conversations about their opinions of school including, bullies, lunches and how they sometimes don’t feel heard in a classroom. The banners they created reflect young voices in society. One statement that particularly stands out to me is “Kids deserve respect”. It’s been a common theme from participants, across multiple years, that young people feel as though they don’t have their views and opinions heard in society and they are entirely correct – Kids do deserve respect – and I’m so happy we, OutPost Arts, create a space for them to feel respected, listened to and valued.
The trip to Wonder Fools’ Positive Stories for Negative Times festival and exploring Glasgow together sounds special – what did those shared experiences bring to the group dynamic?
The Wonder Fools festival brought us Larry. A paper sculpture that was made at one of their workshops and he still lives on to this day. Long Live Larry.
The trip to Glasgow was, for some, the first time they had been, so it was great to share that experience with them. Having the full day together, gave us a chance to have fun outside of a workshop environment, exploring Kelvingrove Art Galleries and the Tall Ship.
“Insanity in the Classroom” feels like a major milestone. What was it like watching the group create, direct and perform their own short film?
I was so proud! The group had devised the piece through a drama workshop with Heather Taylor. I then took the ideas and edited it into a script, writing the narrator’s lines so they were in a similar style to the script that had been their original stimulus, “Mrs Campbell’s Class Fifth Period”. When it came to the day of filming, I was so impressed by their commitment to their rolesfrom actor to director to second assistant camera. Everyone came together with the same mindset, ‘let’s make something we can be proud of’. Some participants are shy in themselves, but drama can be such an amazing tool to take you out of your own skin and become someone else for a moment. Having the mask of another character allows you to express yourself in a way that might seem different, or even uncomfortable, to how you normally present yourself, but it’s proof that you have that within you and slowly but surely you can access those parts within you without the need for the mask of the character. I saw this with some of the participants who perhaps present as ‘shy’ or ‘nervous’ but in this short film you would never guess it from watching. The same can be said for the participants who took on roles behind the scenes – they saw to it that everyone was in their correct positions, thinking about continuity, ensuring the story was being told as it should and getting the most out of their actors. Creating what we did in less than six hours is a massive achievement that I don’t think many professionals could have done so well. A massive thank you to Ruari Barber-Fleming for filming and editing the film, taking into account how the group wanted the story to be told.
How did collaboration evolve across the year – particularly in moments like devising theatre or becoming news anchors?
As the group got to know one another, they became more comfortable in sharing their ideas with each other. Of course, in any bigger group, not everyone is always going to agree or get on all the time, I think that’s entirely normal. There have been moments where I’ve had to navigate this and I think it’s about being aware of whose personalities mesh well together but also creating space for openness amongst differing views and opinions. It’s about give and take and understanding the intentions from each other.
Art and creativity are so subjective, so in group collaboration work, such as the drama or the digital media workshops, it could be an opportunity for a conflict of opinions. However, they’vebuilt trust between one another which is so important as it allows them to be open and integrate their ideas to create a multi-layered piece of work. The trust they’ve built brings a lightness and playful energy to trying new things and not to be afraid of failure.
The group displayed work at Press Play as part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival. How significant was that public sharing moment for them?
I think most importantly this was a chance for them to see all of the work they had created throughout the project, displayed in one place, and to fully appreciate their achievements. Inviting them all together, along with their friends and family, allowed them to take stock of their individual growth, the friendships they’ve formed along the way, and their creative accomplishments they’ve produced.
You’ve spoken about their tenacity and commitment – what does that look like in practice across a long programme like this?
I’ve spoken a bit about their commitment already here, but I also want to mention the parents. We have participants from all across the region – from Langholm to Port William and everywhere in between. Without the commitment from parents taking their young person to each session, there would be no group. It’s a massive undertaking and I think they also deserve praise for their unwavering support to the project.
We are now a month into the graduate programme, and I’m so pleased that nearly everyone has continued to stay with us since May last year. The group have formed such a strong bond as a creative community and even if there’s a day that an individual is feeling low or overwhelmed, they still decide to show up and be present and I think that’s a testament to the connections they have formed together. They know they can turn up as they are in that moment with no judgement or pressure and just be themselves, which I think shows incredible tenacity.
Looking ahead, you’ve secured Arts Award funding and will be launching Bronze level in 2026. What excites you most about supporting the group into this next stage?
Yes, I’m really excited to be delivering the Arts Award as part of the graduate programme this year. The majority of the group will be completing the Bronze level and then a few of our older participants will be completing the Silver level.
When I looked into the Arts Award, I realised that what we offer as an organisation is so similar to the arts award anyway, it seemed a no brainer to offer it to our participants as it gives them an accredited qualification for their participation and commitment to the project. I’m excited to offer this to them as I know that some find the regular school system and way of learning difficult or doesn’t fit their own learning style. I think it’s also incredibly important as more and more cuts are being made to the arts in the curriculum and now we can give young people the opportunity to explore the arts in a way that works for them. There is a great amount of flexibility with the Arts Award, allowing individuals to really hone in on a medium/s that they feel passionate about, with guidance from the workshops that we will be offering: Wire Sculpture, Photography, Acyllic Painting & Drama. These mediums were influenced by discussions had by the group who expressed an interest in these forms. As part of the Silver Arts Award, there is an Arts Leadership section they need to undertake and I’m delighted that they will have the opportunity to plan and deliver a workshop at the Healing Arts Scotland D&G Day.
