Previous Awardees of the YPG

Melody

A talented harpist with ambitions to become a professional musician and teacher, she needed specialist equipment to safely transport and protect her harp. The Young Person Grant has helped towards these costs, giving her more opportunities to take her instrument to events, develop her skills and share her music with others.

Melody said: “Receiving this grant has made a real difference to my musical journey. It has given me the confidence to keep working towards my dream of becoming a professional musician.”

Harry

Harry and his friend want to make the outdoors more accessible to people from underprivileged backgrounds. They are in the final stages of setting up a charity called ‘The Outdoor Opportunity.’ The funding will help develop their website, giving them a platform to share their work and reach those who could benefit.

Natalie

For Natalie, the grant is an opportunity to take the next step towards a career in music. The funding will help her purchase a PA system, giving her the equipment she needs to perform at gigs and public events.

Sam & Oskar

Sam and Oskar are using their passion for photography and video to develop their skills and support their future careers. Sam received £200 which will go towards his video editing career, while Oskar received funding towards purchasing a camera.

Dancing Dreams

Daisy has been dancing since a young age but family circumstances have made it difficult to pursue classes and competitions further. With the Young Person Grant, the funding has opened the door to these opportunities and even to dance as a career. 

Pretty sweet

Harry has excelled in the food and hospitality industry, but needed to complete some key health and safety courses to ensure he could open his business. His award allowed him to study towards these and become certified, and he has successfully launched a brilliant new online sweet shop!

Turn it up!

Jack has always had a passion for the radio, and since leaving school he has been able to turn it into his role- he hosts a weekly show on a local radio station! However, he needed some new equipment to help him continue to be at his best. The grant funding supported Jack to purchase some new, high quality headphones so he can block out any background noise and hear all the callers and tunes.

The right direction

Lewis has always wanted to break into the film industry, and plans to attend university to study film. However, he needed the right equipment to pursue this dream.

With the funding provided by the Grant Scheme, Lewis will purchase a new lens and gimbal for his camera, to support him in creating new and more-technically impressive video content. 

Continuing a business

Romilly had started on her path to owning her media business, but needed some additional equipment to help her grow. You can hear more from Romilly below about the challenges she has overcome with the support of the grant.

Opening doors

Carys had always wanted to be on the stage but found that, to take the next steps in her education journey, she would need to invest in headshots for her acting course.

She said: “Being awarded the grant money was such a weight off my shoulders, knowing I could invest in some high quality headshots without the financial worry that would have come with it. 

“I feel like I can finally kick-start my acting career and have the best foundation to show everyone what I’m capable of without financial hurdles getting in my way!”

Covering travel costs

Scott needed help getting from A to B. Watch to find out how the Young Person Grant helped him.

Gaining experiences

Yen was seeking to fund her university placement year in London to get the experiences she needed to launch her career.

Yen said: “It was pretty surprising to find out I had been successful for the Young Person Grant. I’m extremely grateful to have been awarded the funding and it will really help with my placement."

“I’m excited to be working as a tech consultant at the engineering firm Atkins. It’s a great opportunity for me."

“As we all know, living costs in London can be quite shocking so the Young Person Grant funding helps to me make the most of my placement year by taking some of the financial pressure off.”

Launching a career

Jacob is a talented local artist whose artwork can be found around the borough. However, it was only due to the funding of the Young Person Grant that this was possible. Jacob talks about his journey in the video below.

Building a business

Having studied beauty therapy and makeup artistry, Mia was ready to take the next steps in her career. While renting a room in a salon as a base for her work was too expensive, Mia took it upon herself to build her own studio in her garden.

She said: "Using all the money I had saved from my part time job to build my studio, I applied for the Young Person Grant in late July as I knew I would need help towards buying equipment and products."

"I was fortunate to receive my £250 grant which assisted me on getting everything I needed to be able to open my own studio, MH Beauty."

"This funding has helped me to achieve my dream and I'm really grateful for the opportunity!"