Creative Youth announces the three recipients of its Creative Talent Programme

Arts charity Creative Youth have announced that Scar Ward, Jordy Deelight, and Chiyana Ankhrah will be this year’s recipients of the support provided by its Creative Talent Programme. The programme offers year-long business and strategic support, practice-specific industry mentoring, and £2000 to fund the creation of a piece of work. The Creative Talent Programme has been helping young and emerging artists and companies since 2009 and aims to improve and strengthen their abilities within both art and business.

The artists this year – who all work within the fields of film and visual arts – are:

Photographer Chiyana Ankhrah, whose work centres around challenging and destabilising Eurocentric beauty standards by uplifting and empowering Black women who have been historically left out of the fashion and beauty industries while addressing and challenging stereotypes around Black mental health.

Jordy Deelight, who creates performance-based work for theatre and television, looking at identity and persona in the art of drag and exploring themes of disability, gender and mental health in autobiographical theatre.

Writer, filmmaker and actor Scar Ward, who specialises in writing for young people and explores disability, dysfunctional families, and queer themes in their work.

Creative Youth is based in Kingston-upon-Thames, but applicants can apply from anywhere within the UK, and in fact applicants from outside London have been especially encouraged in recent years. Previous Creative Talent Programme recipients include Dumbshow, Circus Suburbia, Smoking Apples, and What is Written Dance. 

A company supported by Creative Youth in 2020-2021, whatshisface theatre company, said of the programme, “The Creative Talent Programme has helped us navigate through a very difficult period and their support couldn’t have come at a better time. I really admire what Creative Youth do, which is put their artists first. Really recommend this for any artist looking to broaden their networks and strengthen their body of work, all with a bespoke mentorship.”