Mass appreciation for OYAP Trust

You know when you have one of those moments where you sit back and evaluate things in your life? How things have progressed? Whats good and whats bad? Where you wish to be in life and where you don’t? Today is one of those days.

I was so happy to receive a tweet from them amongst all the chaos of rushing to Stansted airport to catch my flight. (I arrived at the front doors of the airport to find out the gate had closed to my flight!!)

Generally, I have had a few pieces of good news recently and it’s something I’m rarely used to admitting, accepting and truely appreciating.

However, today, standing back from the crowd, whilst sitting in the sun in South Italy I’ve realised that I’m so appreciative of where I am today. So I want to give thanks to OYAP Trust for giving me support and really influencing where I am right now.

OYAP Trust has shone a light on a road that I never knew existed. Rebuilt utter belief in myself to thrive to achieve and do so much more. To take risks. To connect with others. Bring out the best in others.

My motto: If it’s bitter in the start…it’s always sweeter in the end.

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Week 1 at OYAP

What a busy week!

First, meeting everyone. I was more worried about being late than about meeting everyone. Probably because I was SO late for my interview (I got very lost…). Liz and Helen were so nice about it though, so I was really comfortable about seeing them again. I was just hoping that everyone else would be just as nice. From what I can tell so far, they are! Yep, it’s very exciting to be part of a group which seems so inspired and motivated to start something new, something big, something awesome.

The induction went well, we spent two days going over what the programme entailed. What was expected of us and what we should expect to get out of this experience. We did a bit of dreaming and thought of potential project ideas. I must say, at the end of the second day I felt like my brain was going to explode. I did have a bit of an ‘information overload’! It was a lot to take in but it was really good to ask questions and have a clearer idea of what is about to happen. Over the two days I heard the word JOURNEY repeated several times. I liked the fact Helen and Liz were using that word to describe what we were about to start. Everything I do I take it as being part of my journey here. I could really relate to that and it made me feel more comfortable about this whole thing. My plan is to take it as it comes and do the best I possibly can. After the two days of induction I felt tired but totally inspired and REALLY excited. All the other young leaders are so friendly I’m really looking forward to getting to know them better. There’s 9 of us so far and we might end up with a 10th person? Not sure but we will see.

On Thursday 18th Nov some of us went to the “Vicious Youth” premiere. I loved it. It was so much fun to see young people be so proud of something they created. They were loving the red carpet

On Friday 19th Nov we had a tour of Modern Art Oxford. Sarah Mossop – Head of Education, showed us around. We saw their offices, their library and got to meet one of the artists that had some of his work up, Jon Lockhart. It was a great experience. Sarah Mossop was very helpful and answered all our questions. Jon Lockhart was more than happy to tell us about his art, his practice and the ins and outs of being an artist. It was SO interesting. It really makes you think and challenge what you already think you know. I got lots of ideas just by walking around and listening to all the discussions. I loved every minute and felt very privilege to get a different insight of the art world. Being a musician, I did wonder how much I’d get from the visit but I got a lot out of it. The discussion wasn’t necessarily around the art itself but more around the how, why and experience in the arts rather than the particular art form.

I have a lot to think about and a lot to take in. If I had to describe this first week in just a few words I would describe it as: Inspiring, Fun and New!

I look forward to much much more

The journey has now begun…

Week 1 at OYAP

What a busy week!

First, meeting everyone. I was more worried about being late than about meeting everyone. Probably because I was SO late for my interview (I got very lost…). Liz and Helen were so nice about it though, so I was really comfortable about seeing them again. I was just hoping that everyone else would be just as nice. From what I can tell so far, they are! Yep, it’s very exciting to be part of a group which seems so inspired and motivated to start something new, something big, something awesome.

The induction went well, we spent two days going over what the programme entailed. What was expected of us and what we should expect to get out of this experience. We did a bit of dreaming and thought of potential project ideas. I must say, at the end of the second day I felt like my brain was going to explode. I did have a bit of an ‘information overload’! It was a lot to take in but it was really good to ask questions and have a clearer idea of what is about to happen. Over the two days I heard the word JOURNEY repeated several times. I liked the fact Helen and Liz were using that word to describe what we were about to start. Everything I do I take it as being part of my journey here. I could really relate to that and it made me feel more comfortable about this whole thing. My plan is to take it as it comes and do the best I possibly can. After the two days of induction I felt tired but totally inspired and REALLY excited. All the other young leaders are so friendly I’m really looking forward to getting to know them better. There’s 9 of us so far and we might end up with a 10th person? Not sure but we will see.

On Thursday 18th Nov some of us went to the “Vicious Youth” premiere. I loved it. It was so much fun to see young people be so proud of something they created. They were loving the red carpet

On Friday 19th Nov we had a tour of Modern Art Oxford. Sarah Mossop – Head of Education, showed us around. We saw their offices, their library and got to meet one of the artists that had some of his work up, Jon Lockhart. It was a great experience. Sarah Mossop was very helpful and answered all our questions. Jon Lockhart was more than happy to tell us about his art, his practice and the ins and outs of being an artist. It was SO interesting. It really makes you think and challenge what you already think you know. I got lots of ideas just by walking around and listening to all the discussions. I loved every minute and felt very privilege to get a different insight of the art world. Being a musician, I did wonder how much I’d get from the visit but I got a lot out of it. The discussion wasn’t necessarily around the art itself but more around the how, why and experience in the arts rather than the particular art form.

I have a lot to think about and a lot to take in. If I had to describe this first week in just a few words I would describe it as: Inspiring, Fun and New!

I look forward to much much more

The journey has now begun…