{"id":660083,"date":"2025-12-29T10:49:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T10:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/660083\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T10:49:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T10:49:13","slug":"in-conversation-with-rising-arts-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/660083\/","title":{"rendered":"In conversation with Rising Arts Agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the past five\u00a0years, Euella Jackson and Jess Bunyan have co-directed Rising Arts Agency, an organisation empowering young creatives from underrepresented backgrounds. We sit down with them to talk about leadership, innovation, and the challenges of the cultural sector<\/p>\n

\"Two <\/p>\n


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Full disclosure: I\u2019m profiling an organisation I once worked for. I wondered if that counts as a conflict of interest \u2013 but I couldn\u2019t edit a print edition themed on youth justice without mentioning them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Right before joining the Cable, I spent a year as the \u2018Storyteller,\u2019 working on communications for Rising Arts Agency. So, I should have the pat down now, right? Here\u2019s the story.<\/p>\n

Founded in 2016 by artist Kamina Walton, Rising was created to tackle the systemic failings young people face in the arts and culture sector. In Bristol, as across the UK, the industry remains dominated by privilege, largely inaccessible and lacking in diversity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Those who do break in often face precarious, short-term contracts, poor pay, and long hours. You enter on the bottom rung of the ladder, and the ascent from there is gruelling.<\/p>\n

So Rising built a thriving community of young people aged 18 to 30 from underrepresented backgrounds\u2014now nearly 100 strong. They offer free training, mentoring, and a crucial network of support.<\/p>\n

As an agency, Rising connects its community with paid creative commissions, from design work to mural painting. It also runs consultancy projects on diversity, governance, and recruitment for organisations ready to do things differently.<\/p>\n

They push for young people to take up space. Their best-known campaign, #WhoseFuture saw 37 young creatives take over nine billboards and 370 poster sites across Bristol in summer 2020, with art work confronting racism and inequality.<\/p>\n

Their OnBoard programme meanwhile positions young people in decision-making roles on boards and panels across the city. \u201cYoung people as leaders now,\u201d goes the Rising motto\u2014and it\u2019s not just talk.<\/p>\n

From the start, Kamina had planned to hand over leadership after five years. In 2021, she passed the reins to co-directors Jess Bunyan and Euella Jackson. Now, as Rising approaches its tenth birthday, the agency is preparing for its next transition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As they reach this milestone, I sit down with Euella and Jess, (my badass former bosses) to explore the power of youth leadership and their hopes for the creative sector ahead.<\/p>\n

So, next year is the leadership transition. Is it hard to let go?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Euella<\/strong>: No! We became co-directors knowing we\u2019d step down after five years. It changes your relationship to the organisation \u2014 how you lead, how you hold things. We\u2019ve always been thinking about legacy. It feels like the right moment. We\u2019re excited to see who takes on the role next and what they\u2019ll do with it.<\/p>\n

How do you reflect on the past five years? What are you proud of?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jess<\/strong>: Before us, Rising was always a blockbuster project on the go, which was great for reputation and momentum. When we came in, we intentionally focused on governance, policies \u2013 securing the organisation\u2019s foundations. It\u2019s not sexy work, but it shows we\u2019re here to stay!<\/p>\n

Euella<\/strong>: We led a cultural strategy for a North Devon town, all while Jess was pregnant! We worked on research with King\u2019s College London about power and partnerships. That project won an award and is still referenced as an example of how grassroots organisations can work with bigger institutions. We also launched caring work cultures training.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What kind of issues are you hearing from your members at the moment?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jess:<\/strong> Housing. Racism. A lot of our members are talking about climate justice.<\/p>\n

Euella: <\/strong>Many work precarious hours or zero-hours contracts. They can\u2019t afford to go fully freelance but can\u2019t get a salaried job either. There\u2019s a lot of precarity.<\/p>\n

Do you think young people are set up to fail?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jess<\/strong>: Sometimes. I\u2019m not even sure they\u2019re given the chance to fail. We push back against that. The more you\u2019re allowed to experiment, fail, and challenge the status quo, the better! But the pressure is enormous, like if you\u2019re the first young person, or the first Black person, in a role, the pressure is enormous. <\/p>\n

Euella<\/strong>: There\u2019s so much creativity and ingenuity in being young. When you\u2019re given space to fail, real innovation happens \u2014 most artists you love started out making things in their bedrooms. Today, opportunities like that are rare; tokenism is more common.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Young leaders bring fearlessness. They question why things are done a certain way, and they\u2019re inquisitive and curious<\/p>\n

Euella<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jess<\/strong>: And naming failure. The sector rarely does that. A few years ago, one of our impact reports was actually a failure report, listing what hadn\u2019t worked! Our Transforming Leadership programme centred failure \u2013 and celebrated it.<\/p>\n

Creativity is at the heart of Rising\u2019s approach right?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jess:<\/strong> Absolutely. We want a world where anyone can be an artist, feel comfortable in cultural spaces, and speak truth to power. Time and again, we\u2019ve seen that when young people use creativity, they generate new ideas, make information more accessible, and model different ways of working. The key is respecting them as equals \u2014 shifting power to them disrupts the status quo.<\/p>\n

But getting young people in the room is the first challenge, what about once they get there?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Euella<\/strong>: Exactly, there are \u201cseats at the table\u201d for young people but often the table\u2019s broken! That\u2019s where Rising steps in: we assess the table, make everyone aware of what\u2019s there, and work with young people and partners \u2014 sometimes over years \u2014 to rebuild it.<\/p>\n

Jess<\/strong>: A lot is about vibe checks with partner organisations. Can a young person safely work here? How much support do they need? Sometimes a team member goes with them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Euella<\/strong>: The opportunities we push for are not entry-level, you don\u2019t need to start at the bottom. Young people can meaningfully influence projects, not just fill token roles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jess<\/strong>: There is still exploitation in the sector, an attitude of: \u201cYou need this opportunity more than I need you.\u201d But the community has power. If everyone says, \u201cThis is my minimum day rate,\u201d no one can undervalue people. We prioritise sharing opportunities rather than gatekeeping, like \u2013 if someone moves on from a role, they can pass it on within the community.<\/p>\n

Jess<\/strong>: We\u2019ve also introduced something called reparative rest fees, which came from our Resourcing Racial Justice project. If someone\u2019s being asked to take part in work that centres their lived experience \u2014 say, a focus group for Black teens in a predominantly white area \u2014 we ask partners to pay a rest fee. It acknowledges the emotional labour involved in that kind of work. Often, when we convene groups whose work overlaps with their lived experience, we include that fee as standard.<\/p>\n

Euella:<\/strong> We\u2019ve also introduced Access Riders across our team and community. It\u2019s basically a short statement that outlines your access needs, how you prefer to work, and how people can get the best out of you. It levels the playing field and normalises access as part of the conversation \u2014 especially for disabled or neurodivergent people.<\/p>\n

What do young people bring to leadership roles?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Euella:<\/strong> Young leaders bring fearlessness. They question why things are done a certain way, and they\u2019re inquisitive and curious. There\u2019s an element of play and creativity that allows them to move fast and mobilise around issues they care about.<\/p>\n

Jess<\/strong>: There\u2019s almost a lack of respect for traditional ways of doing things. They try new approaches and take risks others won\u2019t, and that\u2019s a huge superpower. It means you can actually do things differently. The reasons for doing things a certain way are often not very good! Young people\u2019s willingness to question that \u2014 or just come in and do things differently if they have the agency to do so \u2014 is what\u2019s so exciting.<\/p>\n

Jess:<\/strong> Young people are agile\u2014they move fast, adapt, and mobilise communities, bringing creativity traditional leadership often doesn\u2019t. Their fearlessness means taking risks others shy away from, asking tough questions, and seeking new ways of doing things.<\/p>\n

Euella:<\/strong> They bridge multiple spaces\u2014cultural, social, digital\u2014and solve problems others might not. It\u2019s not just nimbleness; they bring empathy, collaboration, and an understanding of intersectionality, precarity, and diversity, making their leadership highly relevant.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s still a lot of value put on age and experience in society. It\u2019s still seen as a risk to take a gamble on a young person.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jess: Sure \u2014 but the greater risk is not listening to young people. Then you end up out of touch, with no audience. You become irrelevant.<\/p>\n

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