Here it is – Zest Wrapped 2025.

2025 has shown just how much can happen when creativity meets public space. This year, Zest’s work reached further into communities, spending more time outdoors, in town centres, and in the places young people already gather. Across every project, we’ve seen young people leading, connecting and changing the feel of their local area through culture.

Time to look back at what we made happen this year.

The Zone

Creating places to chill, create and be themselves

The Zone returned bigger than ever. Across more than 50 days in Mansfield, Sleaford, Newark and Lincoln, we had over 3,000 visits. Young people dropping in to chill, create and feel part of something. We saw friendships forming, confidence growing and young people shaping the atmosphere of their town centres through creativity and connection. The work was recognised along the way, including a Product Design of the Year award as well as visits from sector and civic leaders from Arts Council England, NHS England and our own local MP – but at its core, The Zone remained exactly what young people told us they needed: a place to show up as themselves and feel genuinely welcomed.

Sound Board

It starts with a conversation. Where it ends? That’s up to you

Sound Board is our outdoor, headphone-based show where the audience shapes the performance in real time. It offers young people a space to speak, listen and connect through playful honesty. This year the show travelled to festivals and public spaces across the country — including SIRF, SO Festival, bOing! and several Zone sites — with 26 performances reaching 1,075 people. Wherever it landed, Sound Board sparked conversations, built confidence and created moments of connection that felt fresh, personal and completely unique to each audience.

New Team Member

Refresh South & East Lincolnshire

Young people rewriting how their communities see themselves

In 2025, we launched the latest round of Refresh art installations with South & East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership. Building on the partnership established in 2024, this year’s installations were created by young people from East Lindsey, Boston Borough and South Holland.

Their words reached 12,298 people across a range of public spaces — from coastal high streets to museums, parks, markets and heritage sites. The work invited communities to pause, reflect, and see their places through the eyes of young people.

Meet Beki Doig, our new Producer

We were thrilled to welcome Beki to the team in April as our new Producer. With a background in creative storytelling, marketing and youth engagement, they’ve already completed their first national tour with Sound Board, bringing huge amounts of focus, detail and organisational clarity to the work. Beki has quickly become a steady hand in the team, supporting artists, young people and audiences with real care. We’re excited to see them take on some of the new projects we have planned for 2026..

A New Home at the Barbican

Future Proof

Young leaders shaping decisions, culture and the future of Zest.

Future Proof continued to shape Zest in powerful ways this year. Their monthly meetings informed our programming, governance and big decisions, alongside opportunities such as hosting ACE CEO Darren Henley for a conversation led entirely by young people. They played a central role in Refresh Your Perspective, bringing young people and local leaders together to rethink what culture means in their communities, and a select group joined us at the Arts Council England Parliamentary Reception in Westminster to represent youth insight on a national stage. They also supported ITC’s Youth Leadership training and continued to influence our policies, recruitment and strategic direction. Future Proof’s leadership has sharpened our thinking, strengthened our practice and stayed at the heart of everything we’ve done this year.

Rooting Zest in the heart of a growing creative community.

This autumn, we moved into the Barbican Creative Hub in Lincoln city centre — a restored Grade II listed building that’s rapidly becoming a home for the county’s creative community.

The Hub offers shared workspaces, studios, meeting rooms and a soon-to-open café bar. Being in the Barbican places us alongside fellow artists and cultural organisations, strengthens collaboration, and puts Zest at the heart of Lincoln’s growing cultural energy. It’s a space that reflects our ambition and opens new possibilities for the years ahead. Find out more here.

Looking Ahead

2025 has been a year of connection, visibility and real impact. Thank you to every young person, partner, artist and colleague who helped shape it.

Here’s to what comes next — we can’t wait for 2026.

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