Schools' Hub

Being a Boy

At AUB, we believe that opportunities to engage with creative subjects and explore new art forms should be available to everyone. We also recognise the power of creativity as a tool to engage in conversations about important issues that affect our lives.

The Being a Boy project, launched in 2022, as a brand-new initiative which provides space for young men to creatively engage with the role of masculinity in their day-to-day lives.

The project has received recognition in the sector as an example of best practice. Winning the HELOA (Higher Education Liaison Officers Association) Best Practice Outreach and Recruitment Award, and HELOA Best Practice Collaboration Award in January 2023. Being a Boy was also a Silver Award Winner for Best Widening Participation Initiative at the 2023 HEIST Awards.

Discover our HELOA award wins Discover our HEIST award wins

The Being a Boy project

The Being a Boy project provides a number of fully funded places on selected workshops that explore the themes of masculinity and identity. They provide a creative channel for participants to reflect on what being a young man means and their own lived experiences. The workshops are an innovative mechanism to conduct an exploration of the possible implications for boys’ future health, happiness and educational success.

Please see our participant eligibility criteria on the next tab.

Being a Boy Impact Reports

The Being a Boy workshop places are available to young people living permanently in England. To be eligible for participation in one or more of the workshops, attendees must be studying in either KS3 or KS4 (aged 12-16) and identify as boys.

Participants must also meet at least one of the following eligibility criteria:

Received Free School Meals at any point during your school studies
Been in local authority care or looked after for three months or more OR are estranged from your family
Are a Young Carer
From a Gypsy, Roma, Traveller, Showman, or Boater community
Have a parent who has served, or is currently serving, in the UK armed forces
Are currently studying at an Alternative Provision
Current home postcode shows that you live in an area with low levels of progression to Higher Education falling within TUDRA LSOA quintiles 1 and 2.
Current home postcode shows that you live in an area that falls within the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) 1 and 2.

Eligibility for the TUNDRA LSOA measure can be checked on this site and eligibility for the IMD measure can be checked on this site.

Being a Boy videos

You can now watch:

Character documentary, following participants in the 2023 Character workshop explore acting processes.
How to Be a Boy, documentary to see participants of the 2022 Empower workshop creative writing successes.
Beneath the Surface, a participant's continued exploration of dance after taking part in the 2022 Lift Off workshop.

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Upcoming workshops and events

Being a Boy Celebration – 28 January 2025, 18.30–21.00

This will be an opportunity to join the young men from the 2024 Being a Boy workshop series and their supporters to celebrate their creative successes and achievements, from all seven of the 2024 workshops: Identity, Character, Empower, Lift Off, Capture, Transform and Freestyle. 

Along with the premiere screening of our documentary, Being a Boy: Identity, which follows the experiences of the young men on the BA (Hons) Fashion Branding and Communication workshop in May 2024.  The event will also include a private view of our first ever Being a Boy exhibition, The Journey of Being a Boy, featuring artworks from across all three years.

The event is free to attend and open to the public.

Learn more

The Journey of Being a Boy Exhibition – 1-12 February 2025

To celebrate the growth of the Being a Boy project and all the young men that have made this project possible, we’ll be showing our first ever exhibition, The Journey of Being a Boy. The exhibition will show artworks, poems, and performances from all of our Being a Boy workshops spanning across three years.

If you’re an education provider interested in arranging a group visit, or would love to come along as an individual, please register your interest below to be notified when exhibition bookings open.

A private view of the exhibition will take place as part of the Being a Boy Celebration.

Learn More

Being a Boy workshops – May-July 2025

Our fully funded creative workshops explore the themes of masculinity and identity across art, design, media, and performance. The Being a Boy workshops for 2025 will be announced at the Being a Boy Celebration event, with bookings across all workshops live the following day.