Connect2Aspire. Cultural engagements and young people’s professional aspirations

The prospect of wide spread automation in the near future means low skilled jobs are likely to be replaced and jobs at any level will require constant training to keep up with a changing work environment. This will affect the UK’s younger generations and requires new approaches to training and skills development. In response, this project will explore new ways of mobilising cultural and creative resources, spaces and networks to support UK’s young people to embark on and pursue confidently career pathways that capitalise on their actual and potential talents and skills, and cultivate attitudes open to lifelong learning.

The programme of research includes ethnographic research focused on young people in Coventry and a study on engagements in cultural sites and museums, using the Programme for Young People at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) as a primary case study. Findings will shed light on how young people's aspirations and initial professional choices are shaped by the cultural and communicative practices and networks they are engaged in, and how these are embedded in broader socio-economic structures. On this basis, Connect2Aspire will provide recommendations on new structures that connect among the educational, community and cultural sectors in a locality, aligned to young people’s interests, needs and their information seeking practices.

This research project is conducted as part of an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Early Career Researcher Leadership Fellowship and UKRI Innovation Fellowship awarded to Dr Amalia Sabiescu, Lecturer in Media and Creative Industries and her mentor, Professor Jo Tacchi, Professor and Associate Dean for Research at Loughborough University London (grant number AH/S004424/1). The study is conducted in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), the charities The Roma Project and Coventry Boys and Girls Club in Coventry, and the multidisciplinary team from the Centre for Excellence in Media Practice at Bournemouth University. This is a 28-month project, with an end date of February 2022.