Impact
Creativity as a catalyst for change
The Agency supports young people from underserved communities to become active drivers of social change using creativity as a catalyst for innovation, opportunity and systemic change.
We connect young people to local networks and transform how cultural and community organisations work with them by adopting more inclusive, co-created and collaborative practices that build trust, belonging and leadership.
Delivered and evaluated across the UK and Northern Ireland through partnerships with Arts Council England’s National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs), community centres and theatres, The Agency of Change has helped build connections in divided communities, support those affected by crime, and celebrate cultural diversity in areas most impacted by systemic inequality.
“The Agency has levelled the playing field. I left school with no grades, but I’ve learnt everything I need to know from The Agency.” Farhad, Manchester Alumni Agent & Founder of Potential MCR
How Our Model Creates Change
Asset-based – building from community strengths, lived experience and cultural insight.
Collective – improving individual opportunity while creating a shared force for systemic change.
Co-created – shifting how organisations work with young people through more inclusive, collaborative practices.
Creative – using creativity as our core currency to unlock innovation and build future success.
Networked – connecting young people, organisations and communities through shared goals and values.
Our Reach in Numbers
Total young people supported
843
Jobs created
167
Number of community members reached
41,000+
Projects launched
277
Stories of Change
Through The Agency, young people are doing things that once felt unimaginable.
Agents have presented their ideas at the Houses of Parliament, influencing national conversations on creativity and youth opportunity.
Samuel, who initiated the project Amplify to empower young people’s voices, is now the CEO of Young Manchester, funding youth and play organisations.
Seshie’s platform IAMNEXT brought underground artists to Glastonbury Festival, reshaping the landscape of independent music.
Farhad’s project Potential MCR now mentors young people at risk of exclusion, following his research trip to the USA on social justice and youth enterprise.
Kyle, who helped establish Frank’s Remedies through The Agency programme, was chosen to contribute his skincare to HM King Charles for the 100 Year Royal Time Capsule.
These aren’t isolated successes. They represent a growing movement of young leaders reshaping the future of their communities.
Systems Change in Action
Change doesn’t end when a project wraps.
The Agency of Change equips young people to influence how communities, organisations and systems think, work and lead. Agents’ ideas grow into community businesses, cultural collaborations and local policy shifts, the ripples continue long after the first prototype.
Henrietta’s Story: From Service User to System Shaper
Henrietta’s journey shows what systems change looks like in practice, a shift from service user to decision-maker and leader. Since completing The Agency, she has become a national advocate for care-experienced young people and a cultural leader in her own right.
Highlights include:
Trustee of Battersea Arts Centre and Agenda, supporting women at risk of social exclusion.
Member of the Black Care Experience and Prison Reform Trust steering groups tackling over-representation of care-experienced young people in the justice system.
Co-produced six creative consultations with 75 care-experienced young people across the UK with EY Foundation.
Speaker at Esmee Fairbairn’s Unlocking Change webinar and presenter at Creative Scotland’s “Sharing the Power” event.
Represented the UK at international creative social change summits in Brazil and Argentina.
“The Agency has been the catalyst for my success, helping me to find my voice, I went from being a young Black girl in care who was involved in criminal exploitation. To now sitting on three boards speaking in parliament and creating systems change for marginalised young people, I stopped waiting for permission to change things.” Henrietta Imoreh Alumni Agent, Care System Advocate & Trustee for The Agency of Change
Impact
Listening First
We place a strong emphasis on listening to young people and actively involving them in decision making processes, especially those young people from marginalised communities, who may struggle within the mainstream education system British Council, UK Arts, Culture and Young People: Innovative practice and trends.
Before we work in a community, Agents take time to explore the stories, strengths and challenges within their own communities - a process we call Community Research. Through creative mapping, conversations and observation, young people uncover what matters most to the people and places around them. They listen deeply, identify local assets and start imagining what change could look like.
These insights become the foundation ensuring that ideas grow from real experiences and collective imagination, not assumptions.
Community Research isn’t about collecting data. It’s a creative act of connection, empathy and agency.
More Than Entrepreneurship
The Agency is more than a pathway to social entrepreneurship. It’s a movement that gives space for young people to realise creative ideas, build networks, advocate for themselves and create lasting change in their communities.
During the UK General Election period, we helped pilot ways of increasing voter registration of the Black Community with the support of the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust Democracy Fund. Our campaign brought together young Black and Asian leaders across Manchester and London to have real conversations about democracy and register people to vote. We explored how peer-to-peer engagement could build understanding and motivation, through trust, creativity, and connection. Read the full report here.
Evaluation & Evidence
After joining The Agency:
76% have greater self-confidence in getting a job
76% became more curious about issues affecting their communities
87% learned to approach problems and find solutions more creatively
80% developed a business mindset — financial management, marketing, project planning
72% improved their ability to plan and deliver events, workshops and campaigns
Lasting impact and Alumni Leadership
Over the years, The Agency has supported hundreds of young people to launch community-driven projects that continue to thrive. Many of these initiatives have grown into independent organisations, attracting significant investment and sustaining their work long after the programme ends.
Our alumni go on to become founders, facilitators, activists and policy influencers demonstrating that investing in creativity builds more than projects; it builds leaders.
Alumni are at the heart of The Agency of Change, leading in paid roles and on our board ensuring a circular model of leadership where experience feeds back into opportunity.
Ongoing Advocacy and Collaboration
Agents aren’t only creative entrepreneurs, they’re advocates for fairer, more creative systems. Recent collaborations include a democracy pilot supported by the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust (peer-to-peer voter registration with young Black and Asian leaders), policy roundtables with civic leaders and funders, and Alumni speaking at national events.
Where our Alumni are at
Recognition & Influence
The Agency of Change has become a recognised model for how participatory arts can drive systemic change. Our approach is informing national conversations about youth leadership and cultural democracy. Our work is recognised in press such as Forbes, The Guardian, The Telegraph and BBC UK; as well as sector research and policy, including the British Council, Arts Council England and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, positions The Agency of Change as a model for youth-led systems change.
“Young people are trusted to make decisions about how practice should be structured. Professionals see themselves as enablers of young people’s development journeys.” -British Council, UK Arts, Culture and Young People: Innovative Practice & Trends (2024)
Creativity works. When you resource it, it changes everything. See how you can be part of this:
In a world of significant change and transformation, economic growth does not mean prosperity for all. As a potential way forward, the concept of degrowth invites us to rethink how growth can be better for ourselves, our environment and our communities. The Agency encourage social innovation through supporting young people from underserved communities to develop projects rooted in local assets, lead change in their communities and drive sustainable futures.