“At The Photography Foundation, we believe photography can change lives. More than an art form, it is a powerful tool for professional development – a way to build skills, confidence and creative identity. We break down barriers and create pathways because everyone deserves the chance to build a career in photography and the wider creative industries.

“Building on our training programme for 18 to 25-year-olds, we deliver a rich mix of experiences that go beyond the classroom – from practical workshops to real-world opportunities. Together, these experiences give our community the skills, networks and momentum needed to thrive.

“We developed the idea for a new employability development project for care leavers in Islington in collaboration with Islington Council, aimed at providing young adults furthest away from the creative job market with the relevant job-ready skills and career exposure.

“From our relationships with care-experienced young people in our other programmes and feedback from social workers, we know that young people from this community need work experience that is practical, hands-on, meaningful and insightful. We believed the experience could enhance their CVs, provide valuable talking points during job interviews and build relationships for future jobs, which builds confidence long-term.

“We already had a relationship with the care experienced social work team at Islington Council, and the Islington Virtual School on Elwood Street. Their team works with young people across Islington and Camden aged 16 to 25 who are care experienced. The school was responsible for sharing our placement offer and referring the young people to us directly.

“The project took place across two weeks, and during that time the young people participated in a range of activities: they collaborated with staff in the learning team to curate and coordinate exhibitions; they worked with the digital team to gain insights into creating visually compelling content for specific outcomes; they gained an understanding of the skills needed to run an organisation behind the scenes, covering topics such as budgeting, with our operations team; and they engaged in a mini-brief with the team related to content creation, marketing and research.

“The goal was to expose 20 young people to a diversity of creative careers during their time with us that they had never been exposed to before, as well as to update or create CVs during work experience with The Photography Foundation as an output.

“We have a commitment to enhancing the employability skills of young people from communities with poorer outcomes.

“Football is a huge sport but is also a vast industry that encompasses a broad range of professions, including creatives in photography, filming, design and other media roles. It is important for football clubs to give back to their local communities, and it’s appropriate that, in this case, The Arsenal Foundation is supporting a project in which creative thinking, technical ability and an eye for the visual is so important.”

For more information visit thephotographyfoundation.org.