Bridging Morecambe Bay through Art, Creativity and Youth Engagement.

On the 17th of April 2026, the vibrant venue in EscapeMake (E2M), in Lancaster city centre, played host to the celebration event, the culmination of the Empower & Transform through Placemaking project. This event brought together young participants from the Full of Noises (FoN) workshop series, from Barrow, and the E2M series, held back in November 2025 in Lancaster. This was teh first time that the kids met, an opportunity for them to connect and celebrate their sense of place through their co-designed artefacts.

The gathering was a lively affair with young people from both localities engaging in a variety of creative activities .During the celebration they engaged in crafting, in playing music, and forming new friendships, all around eliciting their creativity and art sensitivities. Central to the event were the two striking artefacts unveiled by artist Lizzie Clough, our commisioned facilitator and artist. These artefacts, co-designed and-produced by the youth participants in Lancaster and Barrow, stand as their symbolic journey through spatial and placemaking understandings.

Artefacts represent driving force of connection — to their environments and to the broader Morecambe Bay area. Each piece will be permanently exhibited in the respective venues either side of the Bay. Ingeniously, they are linked by low-tech communication: a simple red button on each artefact, which when pressed lights its, establishing an connection between the two art organisations. This interactive captures the essence of the project’s goal to unite and engage through creativity, art, and innovative means of communication.

The Empower & Transform project has been pivotal not only in bringing together these young creatives but also in a rich exchange of knowledge and practices. Academics gained invaluable insights from the unique,-focused approaches of FoN’s music-centric engagement and E2M hands-on art and craft methods. Meanwhile, the partners enriched their understanding through theoretical principles of placemaking, enabling them to harness broader insights for future endeavours. The festive gathering highlighted the spirit of collaboration and mutual learning that has been at the heart of this project. As the artefacts continue to light up the creative paths between Lancaster and Barrow, they will remain a lasting to the power of community, creativity, and connection nurtured through transformative initiative.