An examination of a random sample of 50 folders showed that all sections were routinely completed, providing clear evidence of each participant’s thinking as their project developed. The museum or gallery visit seems to have been remarkably successful in stimulating ideas and releasing creativity. Many personal diaries revealed a positive learning process, and although the need to do written work was not always popular, it was notable that even participants with learning difficulties made great efforts to complete their folders themselves. Not all participants could initially see the value in following the Open College Network course, and a few declined to take part. However most changed their minds as they saw their peers preparing folders for a qualification. In some instances a good deal of effort was put in at the last minute to get folders completed and submitted.
Two separate workshop sessions were held with a sample of project participants during which a team of young people trained in peer-led working explored their views about the scheme. Such peer-led evaluations are able to provide invaluable insights into how young people view and relate to a given service through the creation of a youthful and empowering environment that may encourage greater participation than an adult-led one. However, caution must always be exercised in analysing the feedback from such processes, as it is often the case that young people’s comments can either be taken too literally or dismissed altogether.
Workshop results suggested that although OCG2 participants identified strongly with their own projects, they seemed to have little appreciation that they were linked to a wider scheme. Although the scheme offered flexibility and control to groups over project aims and artistic approaches, young people still felt that their youth workers, teachers or artists exercised more power than they did in deciding these matters. Arts-based projects are a regular feature of youth work activities, but what made OCG2 distinctive was its culture / heritage theme and the quality of the creative experiences that could be afforded. Young people’s resistance to visiting museums and galleries was strong, since they do not naturally see them as ‘young people’s spaces’. As a result even a positive experience of an OCG2 project may only change perceptions marginally, although there is evidence that the impact on some young people was powerful.