WHAT WE OFFER

The Knotted Project are specialists in Youth Voice and Consultation. Informed by 14+ years of experience, we are proud to do consultation differently, ensuring that young people’s thoughts and feelings are at the centre of each project we are brought in to facilitate. It’s not about adults telling young people what to say, it’s about asking the right questions in the right environment, sharing a platform with young people to speak for themselves with confidence and power.

We use our experience in the creative sector to empower young people to inform policy, decision making, community engagement, strategic spending and even the planting of community forests. We are the go-to organisation for youth consultation done with respect and transparency, whilst delivering high quality outcomes, regardless of the industry and brief we are entrusted with.

Here are just a few examples of how we’ve used our approach to enable young people’s opinions to be at the core of decision making in a range of organisations. If you feel we could collaborate on a project together, please get in touch with Directors Natalie and Simon at info@theknottedproject.co.uk

2024 Park View Project – In partnership with Raise Cumbria and Brathay Trust

The Knotted Project led a creative initiative in Barrow’s Park View community, funded by Westmorland and Furness Council. The project engaged local young people in forestry and woodland planting, with a co-creative approach exploring the potential of the new green space. Participants learned forestry skills, planted 100 trees, and developed creative works in music, film, and theatre to highlight the importance of protecting the woodland and addressing environmental vandalism. Their outdoor performance engaged the wider community, creating a lasting impact and fostering a sense of ownership and pride in the local environment.

2025 The Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust, Youth Voice Consultation

YDMT, in partnership with the Lune Valley communities, Forest of Bowland National Landscape, Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, Lune Rivers Trust, Sustrans and other organisations, are developing an ambitious long-term scheme focussed on conserving, celebrating and supporting the distinctive, living, working and cultural landscape of the Lune River, the surrounding valley and its communities.

The Knotted Project, were commissioned to deliver engaging workshops, recruit and run a youth steering group, and facilitate Youth Voice sessions with local organisations, ensuring young people’s perspectives influenced governance and decision-making focused on their local environment for years to come. The project centred around community consultation to gather young people’s thoughts and feelings about their local natural environment.

Watch the film created for the project below.

2025 Penrith Town Hall Regeneration, Commissioned by Westmorland and Furness Council

Westmorland and Furness Council had secured £3m to reimagine Penrith Town Hall as a community and cultural hub, celebrating the town’s heritage.

The Knotted Project were commissioned to design a creative workshop that engaged young people from the Penrith Community in the Penrith Town Hall consultation. The workshops aim was to inspire and engage children and young people but also provide the opportunity for them to express their ideas and views through creativity. The outcomes from the workshops contributed towards developing the vision for Penrith Town Hall and embed the young people’s voices into the wider planning and creative design.

We spoke to over 100 young people in the community ranging from 6 to 16 years old to hear their ideas and authentic views on what is needed in Penrith and what the future of the town hall could look like as a community hub. We drew our findings into a report for the council which you can see HERE.

2026 North Yorkshire Council, Skipton Town Investment Plan, Youth Consultation- commissioned by SELFA

A targeted, inclusive youth engagement programme to ensure that young people’s lived experience, priorities, and ideas meaningfully inform the Skipton Town Investment Plan. The Knotted Project were commissioned to deliver a 3 month long creative program to empower young people from Skipton and the surrounding area to inform the future of their place.

2025-2026 See It To Be It Advisory Group

A three year project led by Cumbria Arts and Culture Network, aiming to enhance the visibility, connectivity and accessibility of creative careers in Cumbria. The project seeks to inspire young people from School, all the way through to professional careers, ensuring that creative talent can be nurtured and retained in Cumbria.

The Knotted Project were commissioned to facilitate the Advisory Group for the See It To Be It project, a cohort of 9 young multidisciplinary creatives. Over a 12 month period, The Knotted Project’s aim is to ensure that young people’s thoughts and feelings are integrated into the decision making process’s behind the SITBI program. This important project ensures that young artists in Cumbria shape their own connections, futures and opportunities.

2024 Whitehaven Forestry Project

This project saw creativity combined with forestry and community planting, Funded by DEFRA, commissioned by Raise: Cumbria Community Forest and in partnership with Fibrus and England Trees Action Plan. Students at The Whitehaven Academy designed and planted a new area of woodland on their land. We worked with Year 9 students to devise a creative performance which responded to their natural surroundings, exploring identity, building confidence and fostering pride and ownership over the newly planted woodland. The outdoor piece ‘Our World’ shared the young people’s views on the value of that forest and what it might mean to their community in the future.

A link to the case study for the project can be found HERE and the film created can be seen below.