Placing Creativity at the Heart of Learning. A learning programme remaking education with creativity, collaboration, and ethical leadership

CreateNow was commissioned by the British Film Institute and Department of Culture, Media and Sport to support the remaking how creativity is positioned in education. Too often framed as optional or “soft,” creativity here is recognised as an essential skill, foundational to how young people learn, lead, and act in the world.

Working with Terri Newman, and Emily Fletcher we designed a learning programme for students aged 11–16. CreateNow builds through three interconnected modules: Creative Foundations, Creative Collaborations, and Creative Leadership.

Each module invites students, teachers, and community partners into processes of making, problem-solving, and reflecting together. Drawing on thinkers such as bell hooks the programme cultivates critical capacity and care, ensuring students are prepared for academic success and the ethical, imaginative work of shaping futures.

At its centre is a pedagogy of equity and adaptability. CreateNow supports teachers in embedding creativity in ways that resonate with their local cultural contexts while aligning with national frameworks such as the Creative Skills Toolkit and the Gatsby Benchmarks.

It honours learning as relational and ongoing, encouraging students to see their contributions as part of a wider ecology of change. Through collaboration, reflective practice, work-place placements and micro-credentials, CreateNow supports young people to recognise their own agency and possibility.

To step forward as leaders, collaborators, and makers of the future.