This year, Zest hit all the right notes: epic partnerships, bold new artworks, youth-led brilliance, strategy in action, and unforgettable moments on the road. We launched innovative pop-up youth arts spaces with The Zone, and made our mark in new locations and beyond to reach a massive 401,000 people! Ready to relive the highlights? Let’s dive into Zest Wrapped 2024.

What a year 2023 has been! As we lock up Zest HQ and head off on our well-deserved festive holiday, join us as we reflect on the last 12 months: an epic year of graft, changes, and growth. A year that saw Zest go BIG, reaching over 424,000 people with our work! Let’s look at our 2023 best bits…

2022 was another year of big lows but, thankfully, even bigger highs. We’re still here, we’re still open, and still thriving for the communities we serve. And thanks to the news that we’re becoming an NPO, the future has never looked brighter!

Zest is spending the first 3 months of 2022 facilitating an ambitious new research project with over 1,000 young people across our home city!

Commissioned by city-wide partners in Lincoln, Zest will meet 1,250 young people between January and March 2022. Over 50 workshops will be delivered in schools, colleges, and community groups, making space for Lincoln’s children and young people to share their vision for the future of the city.

2021 has been another interesting one, right? For Zest, it’s been a year of big highs, big lows, and many unexpected pivots. We’re still here, we’re still open, and still thriving for the communities we serve. But it seems that unexpected pivots create unexpected results.

At Zest, our Maxims underpin everything we do. These short statements share our key values and shape the work of our trustees, staff, creatives and performers. In December 2020, we asked Future Proof what they thought our maxims might be. As participants, they had never seen our maxims document before. The thoughts they shared were solely based on their experience of working with us. We soon realised there were 4 reoccurring themes that we hadn’t recognised as being key components of the Zest experience. Together we set about re-writing Zest’s Maxims.

Future-proofing a product, system or organisation gives it the ability to continue having value into the distant future. It stops the item becoming obsolete. But in these unprecedented times of continuing change, is it possible to be future proof? The young people from Zest’s new Youth Advisory Board have been discussing that question in recent weeks - discussions that indicate where they may lead Zest, whilst also giving an insight into how young people feel about their own future.