Young Producers

The Young Producers are a group 18-25 year-olds connected the local area of the Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham or Westminster. They get paid experience to co-produce an experience for young people for the Great Exhibition Road Festival, using art to explore a new theme each year. In 2026, the theme will be the heritage and origins of the Festival.

What the Young Producers be doing in 2026?

In the 2026 programme, the Young Producers will work with artist Chloé Rochefort and a heritage researcher to explore and decolonise the heritage of the Great Exhibition of 1851, the profits of which were directed to establish many of the cultural institutions (universities, museums, art colleges, institutes) that are based in South Kensington today.

The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, 1851 (the Great Exhibition) showcased Britain’s industrial power, wealth and empire. Steam engines, boats, furniture, medicines, stuffed animals, whole trees and even a prototype of a robot were displayed, presenting Britain as a superior industrial leader. However, the Great Exhibition didn’t acknowledge the people and communities from the colonies behind these inventions who were a key part of Britain's progress. Instead, the Great Exhibition depicted the colonies as underdeveloped and valuable only for resource extraction. 

The programme will focus on recentering the work of these people within the Great Exhibition’s heritage, uncovering the stories from people and communities who helped forge British ingenuity and innovation but were mistreated and misrepresented at the Great Exhibition. The Young Producers will produce a creative art installation to present these stories at the Festival (6-7 June 2026).

Interested?

Applications to join the 2026 Young Producers cohort have now closed. Check back in Autumn when we open applications for 2027.

Explore previous years through pictures: