The year we went BIG
/Get ready; we’re feeling super reflective.
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 take a look at our 2023 best bits…
Zest’s Youth Advisory Board
Let’s be honest: Future Proof are the very best of us! Meeting remotely as paid consultants monthly, our youth advisory board draws on the diverse voices of young people from across the country. Their task? To help us ensure Zest is the best it can be for other young people like them. No area of the company is off limits; this year, they’ve interviewed new staff, proofed marketing materials, approved scripts before they even entered production, and shaped ideas for our future programme. In April, we also launched Future Proof+ (the people in this pic), a new shadow board to develop the next generation of Zest Trustees!
We researched our brand-new show!
For the first time in 4 years, we’ve been researching and developing (R&D) a new show! What advice do teenagers wish they’d been given when they were still kids? Between January and April, we set off on a journey around the country to meet 650 young people to find out! 9-year-olds shared their worries, and those aged 16+ responded with expert wisdom. Camp Phoenix is the result! Written by Bush Theatre’s Young Company Director, Katie Greenall, with new songs by Vocal Looping Artist, Koko Brown, Camp Phoenix tours in Spring 2024! Each performance features a dynamic cast of professional performers and local young people who will share their wisdom with honesty, hope, and humour.
An installation unleashing the words of young people
The Refresh strand of our programme took off this year with new installations popping up in Medway, Stockton-on-Tees, Mansfield, and Darlington. Our aim? To create space for young people aged 8-18 to reflect and release the voice of a generation. We heard about everything, from daily life to big thoughts about the future, perfectionism, love, justice, community, and mental wellbeing. Their words were then turned into vibrant artworks ready to be found on shop windows, hoardings, festival flags, school fences, and even the back of a van! Refresh places the voices of young people at the heart of their community, bringing colour and conversation to the places they call home!
The Forum
A place to chill, be heard and imagine the future
The Forum was back in 2023, this time visiting the heart of Mansfield’s Oaktree Estate and London’s Southbank Centre. Fuelled by the words of young people from across the country, The Forum is a pop-up town square colourfully created to gather people of all ages and be inspired by the next generation. We battled the full range of British summer weather to create a space for our visitors to reflect, interact, or share their voices to fuel more conversations. Thank you to everyone we met! We loved chatting to you and sharing your words to inspire your community!
Zest became an Arts Council England NPO!
In April, we officially became a National Portfolio Organisation (NPO)! Over the next 3 years, Zest will receive £540,000 of public funding to help us fulfil our creative vision for young people. This investment has already enabled us to create a host of increasingly transformative, high-quality cultural experiences for thousands of young people across the length of the country. Becoming an NPO is a huge milestone for Zest, recognising the national significance of the company’s work over the last sixteen years and its contribution to Lincolnshire’s cultural ecology.
Our team grew in 2023
Zest HQ is now bursting at the seams! Our new NPO investment enabled us to expand our team, creating 3 new arts jobs in Lincoln this year! In July, we welcomed Adam Pownall as our brand-new Executive Producer. Then, in November, we welcomed Georgina Weller as Participation Coordinator and Katie Miller as Assistant Producer! Get ready, people; this small but mighty team are Zest personified: energetic, passionate, and ready to make some ambitious things happen over the next few years!
LAC Associate Artists
We became Associates of Lincoln Arts Centre
As part of Lincoln Arts Centre’s (LAC) biggest-ever support offering for early and mid-career artists, Zest was super proud to become Associates at Lincoln Arts Centre! We join an incredible lineup of artists who will all make LAC their artistic home for the next 3 years while investing their skills, expertise, and energy into the life of the venue! Watch this video to hear Toby and Adam talk about our work, what it means to be Associates, and why Zest is just like Oreo.
