FC United of Manchester FC United of Manchester FC United of Manchester Badge FC United of Manchester Pitch In

Wythenshawe Creativity Event a Big Success

Wythenshawe Creativity Event a Big SuccessLast year FC United of Manchester worked with a group of young people from Wythenshawe area to plan and deliver an event showcasing to the employment, career and entrepreneurial opportunities available to young people in a part of the city close to the airport. There was a particular focus on those employers that were working in media related industries, to encourage the young people in creative areas. The project was run with funding from the Youth in Action programme.



The young people acted as a working group, coming together each week to plan the process of delivering the event. There were twenty five young people who formed the working group and they were all students at The Manchester College’s Wythenshawe Campus. The group all had a keen interest in Media and Creative Enterprise, which is what led us to the focus on showcasing creativity.

The young people were assigned a coach who delivered training to them on a variety of employability and creativity skills. They then worked as a team, chairing meetings, discussing and sharing ideas and agreeing decisions.

The group led on every area of the event themselves, including the branding and promotion of it, the food provided, and the activities available to attendees as well as facilitating and hosting everything on the day. This gave them some valuable experience that will stand them good stead in the future and helped a few of them get over some fears over organising and hosting such an event.

The group worked closely with many local organisations and businesses, getting them involved in the programme and developing a strong and positive relationship between the young people and adults and businesses in the community. Many of the young people in the group were quiet when we started and lacked the confidence and communication skills need to get ahead in their future careers. Taking part in this project allowed them to develop their skills in this area in a safe and supportive environment and throughout the duration of the project we saw a number of the young people involved grow in confidence. This will enable them to be able to participate fully in the social and economic life of their community as well as teaching them the essential skills for owning and running their own football club.

The aim of the whole event was to engage local young people aged 13- 18 in a day which showcased the opportunities which are available locally and to hopefully excite and inspire the young people supporting them to consider their options and understand what their community has to offer them.

Thirty nine young people attended on the day of the event itself and the feedback gathered from young people and partners afterwards showed that the day was a great success. We now also have a number of schools asking us to run similar events in the future, which just goes to show the positive impact that we had with this whole project.

As a result of this experience, the club is keen to develop this area of work with a view to running an annual event for young people approaching the end of their time in secondary school to find out about the employment opportunities in the city’s media sector and how they can access the training required to make the most of these opportunities.


First Posted ~ 12:27 Thu 26 Feb 2015
News ID ~ 8969
Last Updated ~ 16:00 Fri 19 Feb 2021