Being a Boy

Back for a second year, focusing on key elements of contemporary dance: physicality, strength, trust and working collaboratively to create adaptable artists.

Back for a second year, participants explored photography as a new platform to tell their stories.

Based at AUB’s Palace Court Theatre, this workshop led by Dan Boyden, an experienced theatre maker and social development expert who's worked in a variety of criminal justice and community settings throughout the UK, working with men to explore new and alternative ways of ‘being a man’.

A Fashion Branding and Communication workshop introducing participants to new ways of seeing, reflection on their own tastes, and new recipes for self-expression.

Back for a second year, author Ashley Hickson-Lovence returned to guide participants through an exploration of written and spoken word.

In celebration of Being a Boy participants, the How to be a Boy documentary premiered at Pavilion Dance South West, following the young men as they participated in the Empower 2022 creative writing workshop.

Also celebrated at the event was successes and experiences the boys that participated in the Capture and Lift Off workshops including poetry readings and showing of Beneath the Surface.

Hosted in partnership with University of Portsmouth and University of Winchester, the widening participation research and practice conference explored how we can better support working-class boys’ educational attainment and progression to Higher Education.

The one-day conference at AUB, brought together practitioners and researchers from 55 institutions and provided a space to disseminate research and learn from evidence-based practice. The conference included esteemed speakers Professor Nicola Ingram, Taking Boys Seriously, and Future Men.

Participants explored a range of different themes working towards creating a final piece that explores the challenges of Being a Boy in the post-pandemic world.

This workshop had a strong focus on key elements of contemporary dance: physicality, strength, trust and working collaboratively to create adaptable artists.

BBC Radio Solent covered the Being a Boy Lift Off Workshop, which included interviews with two of the participants.

Working in the Commercial Photography studios participants created a series of photographs, exploring past, present and future selves.

Claire Barnett, art and photography teacher at The Quay School said, “Ideas were ignited, and quality work was produced as a result of purposeful and thought-provoking activities.”

Led by experienced facilitator and author of the 392 and Your Show, Ashley Hickson-Lovence. The workshop explored what it means to be a boy, through confident, bold and thought-provoking written and spoken poetry and lyrics.

Irene Smith, CIAG Lead at Iford Academy said, “What an amazing day when confidence was grown in abundance!"

This three-hour workshop looked at methods and storytelling devices involved in the development of documentary projects, including the How to Be a Boy Documentary. The exploration encouraged the group to explore distinctive voices in the making of documentaries, which are shaped by our own personal experiences but that can also reflect the forces that shape the world we live in.