Youths create their art with the Artful Dodger at Futureversity Festival

Kids created their own gems with top urban artist known as Artful Dodger at the Futureversity’s festival of art.

The festival staged in London’s East End yesterday at Raines Foundation School in Bethnal Green was organised by the Futureversity youth charity.

It included an art exhibition created by teenagers themselves who have taken part in courses, workshops and a performances.

“Early involvement in the arts has a good impact on children’s learning,” the charity’s chairman Noorzaman Rashid said.

“Yet those with the most challenging social and economic backgrounds are least likely to take part.

“We aim for our courses and events like this to help redress this imbalance and open up the arts and opportunities to a wider audience.”

Workshops gave a taste of the courses being offered in the Easter and summer programmes, which include cake-decorating, fashion drawing, gospel singing and performance poetry. The nail art and cake-decorating workshops were particularly popular at yesterday’s festival.

Artful Dodger, their patron, who ran a workshop on creating ‘urban’ artwork, said: “Everyone needs to find their own path in life.

“Follow your instincts, do what you think you should be doing and everything else falls into place.

“It’s only when we challenge ourselves that we grow.”

The art show included fashion drawings, photography, canvas paintings and manga drawings, all created by students on recent courses.

Futureversity’s Easter programme of 40 courses listed online runs April 7-17, which includes Driving Theory, First Aid at Work, Horse Riding and Manga Drawing.