25/08/2026
# Art Camp 2026: Creativity, Community and a Healthier Summer in York
After the drama, nerves and inevitable emotional damage of the World Cup, York’s young people were probably ready for a different kind of summer therapy.
For 22 days across York, **Art Camp 2026** brought together creativity, movement, healthy food and friendship. With **679 places filled**, our summer programme gave children and teenagers the chance to make art, try new activities, meet new people and take a more active role in their communities.
A big part of this year’s Art Camp was our **Buddy system**, pairing younger participants with teenagers. It gave everyone a role. Under-12s filled sketchbooks, explored visual culture and worked towards **Discover and Explore Arts Award** objectives, while 13–16-year-olds helped to teach, encourage and inspire them as they developed skills towards **Bronze Arts Award** level themselves.
# # Making healthy choices creative
Healthy eating sat at the heart of Art Camp, but nobody wanted the summer holidays to feel like a lecture.
Instead, we looked at the clever tricks used by fast-food companies: bold colours, memorable logos, packaging and catchy slogans designed to make certain foods irresistible. Then we turned those techniques on their head.
Young people created their own colourful designs promoting fruit, fresh food and healthier choices. Sketchbooks quickly filled with drawings, packaging ideas, colour experiments and conversations about the way food is represented in advertising and visual culture.
Lunches from **Bluebird Bakery and Riverford Organics** helped make healthy eating something participants could actually experience rather than simply talk about.
# # Art — but plenty of movement too
Art Camp has never meant sitting quietly at a table all day.
Sessions were fast, noisy and energetic, mixing drawing and making with **football, fitness, games and live music from Rowan McGee**. We were also delighted to welcome the **Lord Mayor of York**, who joined participants in creating communal artwork and saw first-hand the amount of imagination in the room.
Local sport played an important part in the programme too. Young footballers from **York RI**, alongside our links with futsal at the **University of York**, helped lead activities and conversations about keeping fit, eating well and staying active.
As the Lord Mayor of York put it:
> “Creative people are the future of York. It was an honour to collaborate with communal artworks and feel the creativity in the room.”
# # Building confidence and friendships
Some of the most important Art Camp moments are difficult to measure with numbers.
They are the moments when a nervous child finally shows somebody their drawing. When a teenager realises that a younger participant is looking to them for advice. When somebody arrives knowing nobody and leaves talking about new friends.
Our Buddy system helped create that atmosphere. Teenagers weren't simply attending Art Camp; they were being trusted with responsibility, encouraging younger participants and sharing their own skills.
For younger children, having those older role models around helped make Art Camp feel welcoming and safe.
# # Connecting families with their communities
Art Camp also gave us an opportunity to connect families with other organisations and opportunities in their neighbourhoods.
That included signposting families towards support such as **Acomb Methodist Church’s free Thursday meals**, as well as introducing them to welcoming community spaces and activities across **Westfield, Foxwood and Chapelfields**.
We want projects like Art Camp to leave something behind when the final paintbrush has been washed.
For us, that means children knowing more about their neighbourhood, parents knowing where support and activities can be found, and young people feeling that York’s cultural life belongs to them too.
# # What parents told us
# # # Eating more healthily over the school holidays
“The lunches were a real highlight. My daughter actually came home talking about fruit and asking if we could buy some of the things she’d tried at Art Camp.”
— **Sarah, parent of an Acomb Primary pupil**
“He’s normally suspicious of anything that looks too healthy, so hearing him explain why different fruits were good for him was quite a breakthrough!”
— **Mark, dad of a Westfield Primary pupil**
# # # Being more active
“I thought he’d spend the summer glued to a screen, but he came home tired in the best possible way. There was always something active happening alongside the art.”
— **Claire, parent of a York High School pupil**
“My daughter loved that they weren’t sitting at tables all day. There was movement, games and plenty going on, so the whole thing felt really energetic.”
— **Rachel, mum of a Clifton Green Primary pupil**
# # # Confidence, resilience and wellbeing
“The difference in confidence was noticeable. She started off quite nervous about showing people her drawings, then by the end she was explaining her work to everyone.”
— **Joanne, parent of an Our Lady Queen of Martyrs pupil**
“My son came home wanting to look up the artists they had discussed that day. That has never happened before! The teenage helpers were brilliant with the younger children too.”
— **Daniel, dad of a Hob Moor Community Primary pupil**
# # # Feeling safe and connected
“Art Camp gave the holidays some structure and gave my children somewhere they genuinely wanted to go. They made friends very quickly and talked about them constantly at home.”
— **Helen, parent of two Acomb Primary pupils**
“The Buddy system worked really well. My daughter loved having the older teenagers around and felt very secure knowing there was always somebody there to help her.”
— **Natalie, mum of a Westfield Primary pupil**
# # # Learning about food and nutrition
“He came home telling us about food advertising, colours and packaging and then started redesigning cereal boxes at the kitchen table. It clearly made an impression.”
— **Paul, parent of a York High School pupil**
“My daughter loved the fruit sessions and was fascinated by how many different things she could try. She even started asking what was in her packed lunch!”
— **Emma, mum of a Clifton Green Primary pupil**
# # # Discovering more of what York offers
“We heard about Art Camp through school and it opened our eyes to other things happening locally too. We’ll definitely be looking out for more activities like this.”
— **Michelle, parent of two Our Lady Queen of Martyrs pupils**
“It felt connected to the wider community rather than being something that disappeared when the session ended. We came away knowing far more about what was available locally.”
— **Andrew, parent of a Hob Moor Community Primary pupil**
# # More than an art project
Ultimately, Art Camp was about much more than producing finished artwork.
It was about **confidence, creativity, conversation and community**. It gave young people opportunities to eat well, move more, learn new skills, take responsibility and form friendships — while reminding them that creativity can be part of everyday life.
After 22 days, hundreds of filled places and an impressive quantity of paint, fruit, football and sketchbooks, Art Camp 2026 left us with one very clear impression:
**York’s young people have no shortage of ideas. Sometimes they just need the space, materials and encouragement to show us what they can do.**
