Thank you for visiting Creative Sparkworks fundraising page!

We are fundraising in support of our employment focused course "Youth Film & Media Skills" for unemployed 18 - 26year olds who are not in education or training but posses a strong interest in film and a hunger for paid work.

 Course design and delivery is by film industry professionals with a passion for sharing their knowledge and experience with young people who are experiencing barriers to education and work. It has  also been a family affair designing and making the course with son Sam as lead technician, tutor and actually building much of the equipment himself to cut costs.  

Since January 2014 Sam, Saifidyn, Hannah, Leroi and the whole Creative Sparkworks team have been tutoring and mentoring 10 young adults every Friday and countless Saturdays; early starts to late night shifts when on set and location.

I would love you to watch the short promo film shot by our ten current trainees. You can watch it by clicking the 'Gallery' section of this page.

It is through tireless hard work from the Creative Sparkworks team and their CEO! that we have secured paid work placements for all our students within the film industry! Students who successfully complete our course will advance into to these paid work placements with The Calltime Company, an agency for runners and location marshals working on feature films in London.

These work placements will also accredit the students with the Gold Arts Award earning 35 UCAS points encouraging further training and education.

We are asking all our friends to help raise funds for necessary equipment as the project moves into the second stage, where our students will be producing a documentary. The resources that are critical for the course’s progression are:  

·         Three cameras

·         Two  laptops

·         One camcorder

All of which will be purchased on Ebay to save costs.

Adequate cameras and editing laptops will undoubtedly increase the value of the course experience and therefore the chances of  working and wellbeing in the future for these talented young people. As you can see from the video all of them are dedicated to skilling up and finding work in their chosen field. Many are overcoming considerable obstacles to attend the course, such as homelessness, recovering from mental illness and long term unemployment. 

Our project recruitment process was an eye-opener to some of the challenges facing this age group today. Here at Creative Sparkworks we are committed to ensuring these young people are not left behind. 

The project so far has managed to successfully win the support of The Princes Trust, Fairbridge, the YMCA, InterJunction with KidsCity, Cardboard Citizens, Young Minds, Lambeth Youth Offending Service, and the LEO project, who provide experienced support if needed.

Life-changing success stories have already started!

• Ayo and Ellie have recently been commissioned by Topaz charity www.topaz.uk.net  to interview and  film their CEO and  head up their new website with a video; 
• Pat and Kasia are off to the House of Commons at the invitation of North Lambeth MP Kate Hoey to interview her for the Well London Vauxhall documentary in her constituency;
• Lucie and Kieran and Cyprian are booked by Watmos housing association to film the launch of their regeneration project  in May
• Ayo is in the finals of the 'Money4Life' challenge this week

All this after only 3 months of the course, and another 3 to go!

Please help us to continue their success stories by investing in these capable young people.

Donations can be made here on Justgiving! The donate button is also on the Home page of our website www.creative-sparkworks.org.

If would like to meet these amazing young people in person and see them in action, join us for a spot of filming and interviewing in Vauxhall on Friday 9th May from 11am to 5pm.  The students will be working with our Z40 camera and the Firewire laptops for editing their documentary. 

Our funding appeal has had a flying start thanks to our skydiving young trustee, Hannah Nedas. Any other brave fundraising campaigners out there, let us know on Facebook, Twitter or email.

For more information about the course or Creative Sparkworks generally, visit our website www.creative-sparkworks.org  and follow us on Facebook and Twitter ; you can email  info@creative-sparkworks.org  or  chat with me, Sylvia, on 07890987586.

Thank you for reading!