Revisiting the ACE Research Project: We've come a long way...

As we near our tenth anniversary (20 December 2026), we're looking back on some of the pivotal moments in Articulate's development. One of these was the social innovation research project called Arts, Creativity and Employability (ACE), funded by Scottish Government and delivered in partnership with Abertay University.

In 2018-19, five young creatives worked with researchers from Abertay and staff from Articulate to find out how care experienced young Scots were able to access, engage with, take part in and develop skills and talents in the arts. Together we looked at what works and at the barriers and challenges that were getting in the way.

The project's findings influenced Articulate's core structure and direction, and demonstrates how exploring the right questions can inspire change.

What they did

The research, led by the young people, involved:

• Reviewing 150 reports and articles and reading 30 that were most relevant to the aims

• Designing online questionnaires for young people, social workers and artists

• Facilitating 'creative conversations' for groups of young people using clay, writing and spray-painting techniques to stimulate discussion

• Writing a practice guide

• Mapping projects we found in Scotland

• Looking at case studies

• Hosting focus groups

• Making a film 'Exploring Futures'

The research team travelled all over the UK, observing inspiring projects and chatting to passionate creatives to better understand what the 'active ingredients' or great places, practices and people were.

What they found

Some key findings from this expansive exploration of arts access for care experienced people were:

1. The World Economic Forum thinks that creative thinking is the fourth most important skill for employability.

2. Taking part in the arts can really help with well-being, feeling connected and building confidence.

3. The creative industries are booming and need different kinds of young people coming into that sector for it to stay healthy and resilient too.

4. There are lots of obstacles that care experienced young people may face limiting their choices and chances to go into the arts and cultural industries, which means they miss out on the wellbeing benefits and using it to share their ideas and opinions.

5. Many of the adults supporting care experienced young people simply didn’t know about the arts, cultural or creative opportunities available, and young people don't have the connections required to access or progress creative skills.

6. There were real examples of good work in Scotland in this area, but it was patchy so more consistency would ensure fairer access.

Visits to London, Bristol, York, Newcastle, Glasgow and Dundee to observe projects gave insights into what works. The group believed that these showed best practice by:

• Focusing on the interest, motivation and talent of the young people

• Investing in building soft skills as well as long-lasting and trusting relationships

• Having an open mind when dealing with people and problems

• Thinking hard about partnerships and working together

• Being flexible and taking risks.

The ACE Young Researchers used the findings to make recommendations for both the Scottish Government and Articulate. They called on Articulate to focus on four areas - places and spaces to create; using arts to improve mental wellbeing; developing creative skills to benefit learning, life and in preparation for the world of work; and finding ways to connect and collaborate. These became four of our five core pillars of practice.

1. Places & Spaces: trauma-informed physical and digital environments where young people feel safe, that they belong and will be creatively nurtured.
   

2. Creative Wellbeing: tailored arts-based support for reflection, expression and personal growth.
   

3. Education, Employability & Enterprise: routes into learning, work, business and leadership through enterprise, training, paid roles and accredited opportunities.
   

4. Connectivity & Collaboration: building relationships, partnerships and participatory research that drives improvement in self, sector and society.

The final pillar, Artivism, (Arts + Activism), supports youth-led advocacy and systems change through campaigns, public art and creative platforms. This was added after the research was published in response to Creative Assembly that focused on the findings.

How this matters seven years on

Back in 2019, the ACE Young Researchers said:

We want to continue this research as we really only scratched the surface of the great work down south, what we read about in Europe and the ideas we have heard about and had ourselves, like social prescribing, self-directed creative care, cultural hubs, etc.

The problems are challenging and complicated, but we all want to commit to helping with positive change as we know how we have benefited from exploring our creativity through the arts and want others to have the same options that we have.

Today, Eona Craig, Articulate's founder and Chief Executive, summarises the impact of this formative project:

The Arts, Creativity and Employment (ACE) research project that we undertook in the formative years of the charity was a fundamentally important piece of work, one that influenced the culture, ethos, vision and component parts of what we now recognise as the five pillars of practice at Articulate.

The research in Scotland and observation visits to amazing facilities across the UK encouraged us to believe that we could craft something niche and specialist that was as individual and inspiring as every young person we meet.

We already knew that the arts and culture was about way more than 'aesthetic pleasure'. We know they build confidence, strengthen cohesion, have health benefits, fuel innovation, and create jobs.  But our task was to make these benefits available, accessible and purposeful for care experienced children and young people.

Just as we were letting all we had learned percolate, Covid hit and the UK charity sector has not experienced stability since.  Instead it, and Articulate, has faced a sequence of overlapping crises that have progressively weakened resilience. Post-Covid we continue to experience cost of living, mental health, climate and other local, national and international influences that questioning what 'normal' might ever feel like.

Despite all of that, we enter our tenth year full of ideas and energy for the models, perspectives and co-produced projects that the young people continue to propose.  The five pillars are supported by our four realms of influence (self, sector, systems, society) and three outlooks (local, national and international). We train and employ more care experience young creatives than ever and we move to one of the grandest cultural buildings in Glasgow at the end of the year.  We have come a long way, there is a lot more to do, but because we exist and there is still plenty talent, there are far more opportunities for our young folks than when we started all those years ago.