Ikon Youth Programme

IYP ON SLOW BOAT

With support from Freelands Foundation, is a six-year programme (2021–27) delivered aboard Slow Boat, a heritage canal boat. Through workshops, exhibitions and live events, the programme creates opportunities for young people, artists and communities to connect, learn and experiment together across the region’s waterways.

Each year, Slow Boat travels more than 150 miles of the canal network, exploring the rich art school heritage of Birmingham and the West Midlands. Regular stop-offs include Walsall, Wolverhampton, Tipton, Stourbridge, Smethwick and Coventry.

Throughout 2026, IYP continues to programme public events, including artist talks, exhibitions and workshops, bringing young people’s voices and emerging artistic practices into Slow Boat‘s wider programme.

On Slow Boat, IYP members host other youth initiatives, partnering with Malthouse Youth Group, Rowley Regis Youth Club and The Gap Arts (Culture Collective). The group also connects with Further Education colleges, including Riverside House, Glasshouse College and Halesowen College, while continuing to offer an experimental space for students in art schools in Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Coventry.  

Throughout 2026, IYP continues to programme public events, including artist talks, exhibitions and workshops, bringing young people’s voices and emerging artistic practices into Slow Boat‘s wider programme.

Aboard Slow Boat, IYP members host and collaborate with other youth initiatives, including Malthouse Youth Group, Rowley Regis Youth Club and The Gap Arts (Culture Collective). The programme also connects with further education colleges, including Riverside House, Glasshouse College and Halesowen College, while continuing to offer an experimental space for students from art schools across Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Coventry.

IKON YOUTH PROGRAMME

In 2026, IYP embarks on new projects with Modern Clay, Freehaus Studios, Corridor8 and artists Sahjan Kooner, Hannah Lim, Anna Barham, Mathew Leung, Harriet Bowman and Alice Theobald. The programme is supported by Lucy Grubb (Ikon Youth Programme Coordinator), Dharmendra Parmar (Slow Boat Coordinator) and the Slow Boat crew.

A core part of IYP’s programming is the artist-led approach to ‘practising the practice’ of alternative education. This is where studio practice is embedded in workshops rather than detached from them. Workshops become spaces for collective experimentation, process-led inquiry and situated forms of knowledge exchange.

Every year, IYP produces an annual publication and co-programme a review event, in collaboration with Slow Boat’s evaluator Cathy Wade.