Overview
We know that inspiring your students, whatever their ambition, is at the heart of what we do in creative education.
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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 import issues that affect our lives.
We're delighted to have 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 won the HELOA (Higher Education Liaison Officers Association) Best Practice Outreach and Recruitment, and Best Practice Collaboration Award in 2023. Read more about these 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 below for participant eligibility criteria and further details of the 2023 workshop series.
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
- Have a parent who has served, or is currently serving, in the armed forces
- Current home postcode shows that you live in an area with low levels of progression to Higher Education. (Postcodes within the lowest two POLAR4 quintiles)
- Current home postcode shows that you live in an area that falls within the lowest 20 per cent of the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD).
Please check your eligibility for the POLAR4 measure (Postcodes in the lowest two POLAR4 quintiles qualify) and eligibility for the IMD measure (Postcodes in the lowest two deciles qualify).
Being a Boy videos
Watch our How to Be a Boy documentary to see participants of the Empower workshop creative writing successes. Meanwhile, Beneath the Surface shows a participant's continued exploration of dance after taking part in Lift Off workshop.
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Accept to view2023 Workshop series
Empower – Thursday 11 May 2023, 09.30–14.30
Creative writing workshop focusing on expression and storytelling, and the power of lived experiences, through written and spoken word.
Inside every single one of us, there's a story, and it's so important to ensure every story is heard. We're excited to have Empower, a creative writing workshop supported by an experienced facilitator, return for a second year. The workshop aims to equip participants with the tools to create confident, bold and thought-provoking creative pieces.
Previous experience of creative writing isn't necessary. Lunch and workshop materials provided.
Participants will leave the workshop with a writing journal filled with personal creative pieces and ideas to inspire future work.
This workshop is now fully booked.
Identity – Monday 15 May 2023, 09.30–14.30
Fashion Branding and Communication workshop exploring ideas of masculinity and gender stereotyping in styling.
Fashion is a journey of self-discovery that can only really be defined by the collector. As one fashion insider said, “That’s fashion to me. Collecting beautiful little pieces of yourself over time.”
Identity will introduce participants to new ways of seeing, reflection on their own tastes, and new recipes for self-expression.
Previous experience isn't necessary. Lunch and workshop materials provided.
Participants will leave the workshop with a sketchbook of personal visual language to reflect upon and add to with each new curiosity.
This workshop is now fully booked.
Character – Tuesday 13 and Wednesday 14 June 2023, 09.30–14.30 on both days
A two-day Acting workshop at AUB’s Palace Court Theatre, providing space for a creative exploration of challenges facing young men.
This workshop will be an opportunity for young men to connect and to reflect on what’s important to them, as they look back at what boyhood meant to them and ahead to being a man. Through a creative group work process and the development of short piece of forum theatre, they'll share their own experiences and perspectives on masculinity, to surface some of the challenges and opportunities that young men today are facing.
The workshop will be delivered 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’. For two decades, Dan's worked globally with organisations using arts and creativity as tools for personal, social and structural change. He currently works with the British Council as a lead consultant designing their new global youth programme, and is co-director of international arts collective, AWE.
Previous experience of acting isn't necessary. Lunch and workshop materials provided.
Participants will leave the workshop having co-created a collaborative performance, with an opportunity to perform in front of a small and friendly audience.
Capture – Wednesday 5 July 2023, 09.30-14.30
Photography workshop in the Commercial Photography studios creating a series of images exploring what it means to be a boy.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, what is it you want to say? In this workshop, participants will engage with an art form that encourages experimentation, open-mindedness, and a risk-taking approach to creativity. Photography is a creative tool that celebrates pushing boundaries and provides individuals with a new platform to tell their stories.
Previous experience of photography isn't necessary. Lunch and workshop materials provided.
Participants will leave with a memory stick of photographs and printed images.
Lift Off – Wednesday 12 and Thursday 13 July 2023, 09.30–14.30 both days
A two-day Movement workshop, focusing of physicality, strength, trust, and collaborative working.
Come and join us for the ‘Being a Boy’ two-day on-campus movement workshop, Lift Off. In this workshop participants will explore 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 will have a strong focus on key elements of contemporary dance: physicality, strength, trust and working collaboratively to create adaptable artists.
Previous experience of dance isn't necessary. Lunch and workshop materials provided.
Participants will leave the workshop having co-created a collaborative performance, with an opportunity to perform in front of a small and friendly audience.
Freestyle – Monday 17 July 2023, 09.30–14.30
Illustration workshop creating customised skateboard designs, using paper and digital skills, to explore the Being a Boy themes.
This workshop will introduce participants to the skateboard as a canvas for exciting graphic statements. The skateboard deck is a unique space that integrates illustration with movement and risk.
Participants will look back at the history of this object and also look forward to ways in which deck art can still surprise and delight.
Previous experience is not necessary. Lunch and workshop materials provided.
Participants will leave with a collection of illustrated designs.
This workshop is now fully booked.
Previous workshops and events
Read through our previous workshops and events to get a feel for what we've been up to.
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 2021 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.
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.
In this full day workshop, 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.
Explore more
On-campus activities
We run a range of on-campus activities so that your students can experience life at an arts university first-hand.
In-school activities
Our in-school activities have been designed to support your students in discovering more about Higher Education and creative pathways
Lesson resources
We have a range of learning resources at AUB that can support your teaching either in the classroom or online.
Helping your students apply
We appreciate that navigating the process of applying to university can be a daunting time for students – we're here to help.
Widening access to AUB
Those with the potential to benefit from higher education, deserve the opportunity to do so. At AUB, we’re committed to making that happen.
Teachers and Advisors CPD
Find out information about our CPD for staff...
Global Schools
AUB offers workshops, talks and presentations to global schools. Get in touch with our team to find out more