Atlantic Youth
Creative Hubs
What is Atlantic Youth Creative Hubs?
The Atlantic Youth Creative Hubs (AYCH) project aims to support young people (15-30 year olds) from the set up to the launch of innovative projects linked to regional issues.
Backed by INTERREG Atlantic Area and supported by 14 partners from the Atlantic coast, the project has provided help and support to over 500 young people from different backgrounds (local missions, university) since 2017, from finding the idea to developing the project using methods largely inspired by design.
The aim of the AYCH project is to continue this momentum with a referral network of Smart Third Places at a European level.
A contribution from the City Design Lab through tools, methods and initiatives
L’École de design Nantes Atlantique’s City Design Lab has played an active role in defining the support sites and implementing the tools throughout the development of projects, including their deployment and replicability, thanks notably to an “on-line project manual”. More recently during the lockdown, the Design Lab was heavily involved in the shift to on-line activities. Various activities were deployed and tested in the field to optimize the emergence of projects, discussions and development.
Since the beginning of the project in 2017, over 40 students have facilitated workshops from Portugal to Spain not to mention the United Kingdom and the hubs in Brest and Angoulême, using tools and protocols created during their Master’s course. Over a hundred young people have benefitted from the project via workshops, tutoring, residencies or seminars.
Find out more about all the Atlantic Youth Creative Hub initiatives on the project wiki page.
The influence of design on the creation of ideas, projects and businesses by Danae Velez.
Latest AYCH project developments and highlights
- European Week: project selected to be presented in Brussels (October 2020)
- Creative Jam + Online Bright Mirror: definition of scenarios for Post Covid 19 Europe in partnership with all the hubs and the Michel Serres Center (in French)
Introduction to Bright mirror online (2020) by students from L’École de design
- Stranger Jobs Tour (September 2019-December 2019): prospective cross reflection on tomorrow’s jobs with the University of Western Brittany and Corsica University
- Shape My Wave, incubation program (December-April 2020)
- Fab City Tour: residential stay to discover Fab City in Plymouth (November 2019)
- Local Creative Jam: support provided by 3 students from the workshop lab in the city of Exmouth with the Space* organization and local partners (October 2019)
Creative Jam in Exmouth (2019), run by l’École de design
- Presentation of the International Creative Jam concept at the QPES conference (Questions of Pedagogy in Higher Education) in Brest (July 2019)
- Creative Jam: the ¼ hour city and innovation potential, in partnership with the Michel Serres Center and the Sorbonne Chair on Business Territory and Innovation (April 2019)
- International Creative Jam in Gijon (March 2019): gathering of 70 young people from the Gijon hubs to work on Smart City themes
Interdisciplinarity and cooperation between hubs:
- Tate Exchange: Creative Session with Plymouth College of Art at the Tate Modern, London (March 2019)
- Atlantic Area European Meeting: conference, stand and workshops in the presence of political and European decision-makers (October 2018)
- Steering Commitee (Nantes): creation of tools to run the AYCH community (September 2018)
- Local Creative Jam: creation of tools for the project with the participation of CAPEB, Novabuild, Nantes Métropole (March 2018)
- International Creative Jam in Lugo: 1st meeting of young people on the subject of creativity (March 2018)
- Project kickoff in Exeter (October 2017)
Team and partners
The European Atlantic Youth Creative Hubs team brings together a group of French and international students, researchers and teachers in Nantes in the City Design Lab of L’École de design Nantes Atlantique directed by Florent Orsoni. Atlantic Youth Creative Hub is a program launched in 2017 to facilitate creative third places and support youth employment and entrepreneurship from Belfast to Porto with the support of the European Union’s Atlantic Arc Interreg program.
Florent Orsoni: project corrdinator
Florie Decamps: financial and administrative control
- Hilda Zara: research officer
- Philippine Mahé: designer
- Olivier Worgague: consultant in charge of the Shape My Wave program
The following people were involved in the project:
- Anaïs Jacquard, Marion Lefeuvre and Anne-Gaëlle Person for the pedagogy
- Sébastien Maury, setting up the Wiki
- Clément Gault and Charline Havart, research and project follow-up
Student and alumni ambassadors:
- Louise Bragard
- Adytia Joshi
- Seunghoon Han
- Charline Havart
- Maurine Guingamp
- Suzie Razafimihery
- Danae Velez
- Chloé Verron
- Plymouth College of Arts (Great Britain)
- City of Plymouth (Great Britain)
- Pacificstream Liverpool (Great Britain)
- Brest Métropole (France)
- Grand Angoulême (France)
- The county of Devon (Great Britain)
- L’École de design Nantes Atlantique (France)
- Vida Lactea (Spain)
- Municipalité de Gijon (Spain)
- Municipalité de Santo Tirso (Portugal)
Find Atlantic Youth Creative Hubs online
The official Atlantic Youth Creative Hubs website
Atlantic Youth Creative Hubs Instagram
Atlantic Youth Creative Hubs LinkedIn
Atlantic Youth Creative Hubs Facebook
Atlantic Youth Creative Hubs Twitter
The Atlantic Youth Creative Hubs YouTube channel
The Atlantic Youth Creative Hubs wiki