Ikon Youth Programme/Off-site 13.07.2026 / 11.00am–3.00pm
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IYP Smethwick Imaginarium
Canalside Art School
Ikon Youth Programme (IYP) is a group of emerging artists, architects, photographers and designers aged 16-21.
IYP ON SLOW BOAT
With the support of Freelands Foundation, over six years (2021-27), Ikon Youth Programme (IYP) navigates the waterways on board by producing a programme of workshops, exhibitions and live events on the Slow Boat, a heritage canal boat. We collaborate with national and regional artists by sharing resources and regularly exchanging ideas and knowledge.
Each year, Slow Boat travels 150 miles of the canal network to explore the rich art school heritage of Birmingham and the West Midlands. These annual stop-offs include Walsall, Wolverhampton, Tipton, Stourbridge, Smethwick and Coventry.
Throughout 2026, IYP continues to programme public events, including artist in-conversations, exhibitions, and workshops, embedding their own voices and emerging art 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.
IKON YOUTH PROGRAMME
During 2026, the group embarks on new projects with Modern Clay, Freehouse Studios, Corridor8 and artists: Sahjan Kooner, Hannah Lim, Anna Barham, Mathew Leung, Harriet Bowman and Alice Theobald. Support is provided by from Lucy Grubb, (Ikon Youth Programme Coordinator), Dharmendra Parmar, (Slow Boat Coordinator) and our 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.
WANT TO JOIN IYP?
If you are aged 16-21 and have an interest in or curiosity about contemporary art, you can join a group of like-minded people who meet regularly to talk about art, programme new events, work with artists and develop their creative practice.
HISTORY OF SLOW BOAT
For over ten years IYP has navigated Slow Boat around the waterways of the West Midlands and beyond. Learn about the history of the boat and the artists who’ve worked on it.
UPCOMING EVENTS
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Ikon Youth Programme/Off-site 15.07.2026 / 11.00am–2.00pm
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IYP Smethwick Imaginarium
Canalside Art School
Ikon Youth Programme/Off-site/Workshop 28.07.2026
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Slow Boat: Experiments with Place and Practice
Ikon Youth Programme 30.07.2026 / 5.30pm–6.30pm
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Building Practice with Hannah Lim
Family/Ikon Youth Programme/Off-site/Workshop 31.07.2026 / 12.00pm–4.00pm
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Inherited Forms
LATEST NEWS
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Ikon Youth Programme 26.06.2026
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Slow Notes 02
We continued our Slow Boat journey in Tipton with Rowley Regis Youth Club and Ikon Youth Programme coming together for a Slow Boat Social, where we got to know each other over snacks, covered the windows with our words and drawings, shared stories and music, and made new connections!
Slow Boat 01.06.2026
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Slow Notes 01
Wolverhampton: April 2026
Between March–September 2026, we will be sharing Slow Notes, a reflective series of posts following our journeys on Slow Boat.
This year we started our Slow Boat journey in Wolverhampton. We met up with More Art Inc at Wolverhampton Art Gallery and Museum (programmed by Dinosaur Kilby and Simon Suphandagli) for their “Legacy Gathering”.
Ikon Youth Programme 03.03.2026
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RETIRED YOUTH × IYP
Call Out for Young Creatives (aged 16–21)
Join artist Alice Theobald to create a brand‑new magazine‑style community TV show!
Are you aged 16-21, curious and creative? Come and help shape RETIRED YOUTH, a fresh online artist-led TV programme made with young people, for young people.
Slow Boat 14.05.2025
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Slow Boat continues its journey
By Nicola Shipley, Director, GRAIN Projects
Over the last few weeks, we have continued journeying north on the canal, through Stoke-on-Trent, delivering artist-led workshops with groups from across Stoke-on-Trent.
Slow Boat 28.04.2025
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Ikon Slow Boat journeys along the Trent & Mersey Canal, Stoke-on-Trent
By Nicola Shipley, Director, GRAIN Projects
This Spring, Ikon’s Slow Boat is programmed and produced in collaboration with GRAIN Projects, an arts organisation that specialises in contemporary photography and the delivery of socially engaged photography projects, exhibitions and publications regionally and nationally.
Slow Boat 06.03.2025
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Ikon Slow Boat: Stoke-on-Trent, April - May 2025
Ikon is pleased to announce Slow Boat’s visit to Stoke-on-Trent in partnership with GRAIN Projects. Taking place throughout April and May 2025, Slow Boat’s programme of activity involves artists and photographers, education partners and arts organisations, with a focus on engaging young people in North Staffordshire.