National Lottery funding for new Damilola Taylor Trust film project supporting young people affected by the pandemic

A new youth filming project in London is being set-up by the Damilola Taylor Trust to give young people in South London affected by the pandemic a platform to share their experience, thanks to National Lottery funding.

The Damilola Taylor Trust has received £10,000 from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK, to run the ‘Celebrating Hope’ project, which encourages disadvantaged young people to utilise their creative skills to write and shoot a film, illustrating the impact the pandemic has had on the younger generation. The project aims to teach young people new skills while also helping them to process what has been two incredibly challenging years.

Damilola Taylor Trust is one of more than 320 charities and community groups across London to have been awarded a share of almost £10 million of National Lottery funding in the past quarter*.

Abba Bako, member of Damilola Youth, said: “For us, the idea of having a film project is a brilliant medium for young people to express issues that came up for them during the pandemic that they wanted to raise awareness of. Film is a great way for young people to express themselves. It is much less painful, or even scary, than going to therapy or talking about it so directly. The creative process behind making the film means that young people are distracted by the learning process and makes what they’re talking about seem less difficult to express.

“The lockdowns have had a big effect on young people, but we have found that young people’s feelings are being patronised and dismissed because ‘they still have lots of life yet to live’. This attitude is actually really unhelpful, and we wanted to put on a showcase, and make this an opportunity for young people to be heard and their voices amplified.”

The ‘Celebrating Hope’ project is open for up to 20 young people, aged 14-24 years old, from across Southwark, Lambeth and Croydon and will be led by four members of the Damilola Youth Board. The young people are fundamental to the entire project, from acting, writing scripts, shooting and editing footage to understanding colour grading and lighting.

This funding announcement comes shortly after The National Lottery Community Fund released a new report, Putting Communities First, which sets out the impact National Lottery funding has had on communities across the UK over the last five years.

Since 2016, the National Lottery has awarded more than £1.2 billion to almost 15,000 projects and programmes to support young people. The aim of the Celebrating Hope project is to encourage more young people to explore the film and creative arts industries, avenues which they typically wouldn’t have access too.

Hannah, who took part in the previous filming project said: “There was a moment for those first few months of the initial lockdown where it felt like everything just stopped and things for me personally were building up. I spent those first few months just not doing much creatively and if I did, it was very isolated. It was amazing to be thrown in the deep end and just create something with people who were essentially strangers beforehand.

“I think it is important to give young people a voice, we have so many thoughts, ideas and opinions and they shouldn't be dismissed because of age and I think it's only fair to create spaces for young people to be heard and flourish.”

Helen Bushell, Senior Head of Regional Funding for London, South East and East of England at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “Thanks to National Lottery players, this vital funding will have a huge impact on people’s lives across London. This last year has been incredibly challenging for communities and we applaud the volunteers and groups that have been a lifeline to so many. As we all look to the future, we’re excited to see how local groups will use this funding to further support their communities to prosper and thrive.”

The National Lottery Community Fund has awarded almost £100 million to 1,355 community organisations involving young people across England over the last year**.

During the pandemic, in 2020 alone, The National Lottery Community Fund distributed almost £1 billion to charities and community organisations across the UK.

To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk