(NU/1557) City of Dreams: working with Children and Young People - request to quote

We are seeking consultants with significant experience of working with Children and Young People (CYP) under the age of 25 to evaluate the impact, if any, of City of Dreams on CYP. City of Dreams is a mission led by Newcastle Gateshead Cultural Venues (NGCV) that seeks to make Newcastle Gateshead a great place to be young through engaging CYP in some form of meaningful cultural activity. It is led by NGCV and involves over 40 affiliate organisations from a range of sectors.

After a period of development, City of Dreams was launched in September 2018. The aim of this independent evaluation is to provide a baseline indication of influence of the mission on the experiences of CYOP (if any), to consider this against the City of Dreams aims and Theory of Change, and to identify and prioritise areas of potential policy impact that the initiative might have.

City of Dreams has key mechanisms within its framework through which CYP are engaged, namely:

- The Big Culture Conversation: a consultation event which typically involves over 1000 CYP and the results from which shape the priorities for City of Dreams
- Our City Our Story – an annual creative showcase which presents creative work by CYP on issues directly relevant to their lives. It is curated by a team of young curators.
- #MakeSomethingBrilliant – an annual summer programme of (largely free) creative activities across Newcastle Gateshead
Central to its governance structure is a Young Champion’s Board, and it has also introduced a Creative Pathway for CYP interested in creative careers.

Newcastle University has considerable strengths in both culture and creative arts practice and research, and in research relating to Children and Young People. This research will better enable us to identify where our research can effectively support City of Dreams, and where, together we can influence policy and practice.