Arts University Bournemouth – Being a Boy
Being a Boy
At AUB, we believe that opportunities to engage with creative subjects and explore new art forms should be available to everyone. We also recognise the power of creativity as a tool to engage in conversations about important issues that affect our lives.
The Being a Boy project, launched in 2022, as a brand-new initiative which provides space for young men to creatively engage with the role of masculinity in their day-to-day lives.
The project has received recognition in the sector as an example of best practice. Winning the HELOA (Higher Education Liaison Officers Association) Best Practice Outreach and Recruitment Award, and HELOA Best Practice Collaboration Award in January 2023. Being a Boy was also a Silver Award Winner for Best Widening Participation Initiative at the 2023 HEIST Awards.
The Being a Boy Project
The Being a Boy project provides a number of fully funded places on selected workshops that explore the themes of masculinity and identity. They provide a creative channel for participants to reflect on what being a young man means and their own lived experiences. The workshops are an innovative mechanism to conduct an exploration of the possible implications for boys’ future health, happiness and educational success.
Eligibility Criteria
The Being a Boy workshop places are available to young people living permanently in England. To be eligible for participation in one or more of the workshops, attendees must be studying in either KS3 or KS4 (aged 12-16) and identify as boys.
Participants must also meet at least one of the following eligibility criteria:
- Received Free School Meals at any point during your school studies
- Been in local authority care or looked after for three months or more OR are estranged from your family
- Are a Young Carer
- From a Gypsy, Roma, Traveller, Showman, or Boater community
- Have a parent who has served, or is currently serving, in the UK armed forces
- Are currently studying at an Alternative Provision
- Current home postcode shows that you live in an area with low levels of progression to Higher Education falling within TUDRA LSOA quintiles 1 and 2.
- Current home postcode shows that you live in an area that falls within the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) deciles 1, 2, 3, and 4.
Upcoming workshops and events
Identity – Wednesday 14 May, 09.30-14.30
Fashion Branding and Communication workshop exploring ideas of masculinity and gender stereotyping in styling.
Fashion is a journey of self-discovery that can only really be defined by the collector. As one fashion insider said, “That’s fashion to me. Collecting beautiful little pieces of yourself over time.”
Identity will introduce participants to new ways of seeing, reflection on their own tastes, and new recipes for self-expression.
Previous experience isn’t necessary. Lunch and workshop materials provided.
Participants will leave the workshop having experimented with styling and art direction of their personal visual language.
Snapshot – Thursday 22 May, 09.30-14.30
Snapshot is a new version of our photography workshop, exploring frames of masculinity to inspire thought-provoking self-portraits. The workshop provides young men with a platform to explore and challenge traditional stereotypes of masculinity while envisioning positive and inclusive alternatives.
Participants will gain valuable technical skills in photography, including camera settings, working with natural light, and basic photo editing. Participants will be experimenting with taking photos outside the studio setting, using spaces across our creative campus to learn how to see as a photographer. Taking a documentary portrait approach, participants will have the opportunity to be individually creative, using spaces to tell their story.
The new photography workshop is a journey of self-discovery and creative expression, a space to tell your story and make your voice heard.
Previous experience isn’t necessary. Lunch and workshop materials provided.
Participants will leave the workshop with printed portraits and memory stick of images.
Reclaim – Wednesday 11 June, 09.30-14.30
Brand new for 2025, Reclaim explores graphic design, creating pictograms and posters exploring the Being a Boy themes.
We’re all surrounded every day by pictograms (logos, symbols, emojis) and posters (in the street, on our phones). These are created by designers who may or may not experience or view the world the way we do. This workshop helps participants make their own symbols and posters through hacking existing graphic design. We’ll reclaim these materials and make new messages using paper collage and digital tools.
Previous experience isn’t necessary. Lunch and workshop materials provided.
Participants will leave with their own printed pictograms and poster
Evolve – Tuesday 17 June and Wednesday 18 June, 09.30-14.30 both days
A two-day theatre workshop that combines acting, voice and movement to explore the pressures facing young men and also the fun and freedom of being a boy.
The workshop celebrates the many creative routes that young men can use to express themselves and how theatre can be used as a way to visualise these new opportunities and freedom. We’ll be asking “What does masculinity means to us?” and through the creation of a short performance, explore how masculinity can be expressed creatively as a positive force for change.
The workshop will be delivered by Will Hudson, founder of the social arts initiative Society Unlimited and researcher and project manager for Voicebox, an organisation that discusses and promotes healthy masculinity in schools and youth settings.
Previous experience of acting isn’t necessary. Lunch and workshop materials provided.
Participants will leave the workshop having co-created a collaborative performance, with an opportunity to perform in front of a small and friendly audience.
Transform – Tuesday 8 July, 09.30-14.30
Transform will provide you with an insight into the professional, creative, and realistic world of special effects make-up. Through a series of demonstrations and practical applications, you’ll be given the opportunities to engage and create small casualty simulations.
In this workshop, you’ll be able to experiment with different make-up techniques and materials, learning a variety of injuries such as bruising, wounds and cuts, producing a realistic casualty specific scene for the make-up industry.
This workshop will introduce participants to use the face as a canvas.
Previous experience of make-up isn’t necessary. Lunch and workshop materials provided.
Participants will leave having explored using make-up techniques and photographs of their designs.
Freestyle – Wednesday 16 July, 09.30-14.30
Illustration workshop creating skateboard deck designs, using collage, drawing and digital transformation, to explore the Being a Boy themes.
This workshop will introduce participants to the skateboard as a canvas for exciting graphic statements. The skateboard deck is a unique space that integrates illustration with movement and risk. Participants will look back at the history of this object and also look forward to ways in which deck art can still surprise and delight.
Previous experience isn’t necessary. Lunch and workshop materials provided.
Participants will leave with a collection of illustrated designs