Culture Commons honours young change-makers at National Arts and Cultural Education Awards
Our Founder & CEO, Trevor MacFarlane joined hundreds of cultural and education leaders, practitioners and young people in Manchester to hand out a special award as part of Curious Minds inaugural National Arts & Cultural Education Awards.
Curious Minds event at the Royal Northern College of Music. Photo credit: Culture Commons 2026
On Wednesday 21 October, Culture Commons Founder and CEO Trevor MacFarlane was invited to present the Young Arts Activism Award at the very first national edition of the National Arts & Cultural Education Awards, organised by Curious Minds.
Hosted by comedian, actor and writer Jayde Adams at Manchester’s Royal Northern College of Music, the packed ceremony brought together hundreds of people working to ensure children and young people across the UK can experience the transformative power of arts, culture, creativity and heritage.
The celebrations come at an important moment for cultural education policy.
Under Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Education Secretary Lucy Powell, the UK Government is advancing reforms intended to strengthen creative subjects within the school curriculum, introduce a new entitlement to enrichment opportunities including arts and culture, and widen access to the experiences that support children’s learning, wellbeing and development.
For Culture Commons, these commitments represent an important opportunity to put cultural education at the heart of a healthier, more creative and more equitable future for children and young people right across the country.
Celebrating the next generation of change-makers
Trevor was particularly delighted to present the Young Arts Activism Award, recognising young people using arts and creativity to advocate for change in their own lives, their communities and wider society.
The award went to Spark’s Youth Arts Ambassadors’ Black to Green project led by the SPARK - the Wakefield Local Cultural Education Partnership, supported by the National Coal Mining Museum England and Yew Tree Arts.
The project brings together young people aged 14–24 to explore their area’s industrial heritage, environmental change and community identity through creative practice. Their work included curating Roots and Renewal, an exhibition inspired by the museum’s mine-water treatment system.
Trevor also congratulated fellow finalists Creative Fusion and Blackpool Local Cultural Education Partnership, and Authoring Our Own Stories, developed by Partnership for Young London alongside regional youth work partners.
Reflecting on the occasion, Trevor said:
“What struck me most was the sophistication of these young people’s activism. They aren’t simply participating in arts and culture. They’re using their creativity to ask difficult questions, tell their own stories, challenge the world around them and imagine a new future together.
As someone who began my career in the arts before moving into politics and public policy, I know how powerful that combination of creativity and civic action can be.
If we’re serious about giving every young person access to opportunities at these formative stages in life, we need to recognise their potential to become advocates, organisers and change-makers in their own right.
These young people aren’t just the cultural audiences and practitioners of tomorrow. They’re helping to shape the society we’re all going to in.”
Culture Commons congratulates all the nominees, finalists and winners, and thanks Curious Minds for bringing together such an inspiring national celebration of cultural education.