Schools' Hub : Being a Boy

You can now watch:

• Transform documentary, following participants in the 2025 Transform workshop, exploring special effects makeup as a tool for self-expression.
• The Journey of Being a Boy exhibition virtual tour, exhibiting artwork from across three years of the Being a Boy project.
• Identity documentary, following participants in the 2024 Identity workshop exploring male fashion branding and styling.
• Character documentary, following participants in the 2023 Character workshop exploring acting processes.
• How to Be a Boy documentary, seeing participants of the 2022 Empower workshop's creative writing successes.
• Beneath the Surface, a participant's continued exploration of dance after taking part in the 2022 Lift Off workshop.

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. Participants will play with fashion, looking at styling and creating looks as a team.

Previous experience isn't necessary. Lunch and workshop materials provided.

Participants will leave the workshop having experimented with styling and art direction of their personal visual language.

Snapshot is a new version of our photography workshop, exploring frames of masculinity to inspire thought-provoking self-portraits. The workshop provides young men with a platform to explore and challenge traditional stereotypes of masculinity while envisioning positive and inclusive alternatives.

Participants will gain valuable technical skills in photography, including camera settings, working with natural light, and basic photo editing. Participants will experiment with taking photos outside the studio setting, using spaces across our creative campus to learn how to see as a photographer. Taking a documentary portrait approach, participants will have the opportunity to be individually creative, using spaces to tell their story.

The new photography workshop is a journey of self-discovery and creative expression, a space to tell your story and make your voice heard.

Previous experience isn't necessary. Lunch and workshop materials provided.

Participants will leave the workshop with printed portraits and memory stick of images.

Reclaim explores graphic design, creating pictograms and personalised notebooks exploring the Being a Boy themes.

We’re all surrounded every day by pictograms (logos, symbols, emoji) and posters (in the street, on our phones). These are created by designers who may or may not experience or view the world the way we do. This workshop helps participants make their own symbols and posters through hacking existing graphic design. We’ll reclaim these materials and make new messages using paper collage and digital tools.

Previous experience isn't necessary. Lunch and workshop materials provided.

Participants will leave with their own printed pictograms and posters.

Action is a brand-new workshop for 2026, with participants having a hands-on filmmaking workshop that takes you through the full creative process including idea development, filming, editing, and a final screening.

This workshop offers young men a supportive space to explore their perspectives and tell stories through film. Participants will learn key skills in visual storytelling, shot composition, directing, and basic editing. Working in teams and using locations across our creative campus, they'll turn their ideas into a completed short film, sharing their stories and exploring their identity.

Previous experience of film isn't necessary. Lunch and workshop materials provided.

Participants will leave the workshop with USB sticks and copies of their final film.

Transform will provide you with an insight into the professional, creative, and realistic world of special effects makeup. Through a series of demonstrations and practical applications, you'll be given the opportunities to engage and create small casualty simulations.

In this workshop, you'll be able to experiment with different makeup techniques and materials, learning a variety of injuries such as bruising, wounds and cuts, producing a realistic casualty specific scene for the makeup industry. This workshop will introduce participants to use the face as a canvas.

Previous experience of makeup isn't necessary. Lunch and workshop materials provided.

Participants will leave having explored using makeup techniques and photographs of their designs.

Brand-new for 2026, Launch explores creativity in business, looking at global brands, their stories, and how they communicate their values.

Through creative and interactive activities, the Innovation Studio team will work with participants to unpack a number of global brands' values and how they share their identity through celebrities and brand ambassadors. Just like brand values, which create a genuine connection with customers, understanding our own values helps us to develop more meaningful connections.

Thinking about business values, participants will discover how to identify their own values, creating an individual and personalised talisman, a small object thought to bring good luck. Participants will be exploring aspects of design and visual communication with hands on activities, using the building blocks of creative and business thinking to inspire their ideas.

Previous experience is not necessary. Lunch and workshop materials provided.

Participants will leave having created their own talisman and with an understanding of business creativity.

This gallery shows some of the Being a Boy workshops in action.

Have a look at workshops and events through the years to get a feel for what we’ve been up to.