Ikon Youth Programme / Slow Boat 2024

We caught up with Rosie Abbey, Ikon Youth Programme Coordinator, to hear about this year’s highlights for Ikon Youth Programme and Slow Boat.

What are some of your highlights with Ikon Youth Programme (IYP) / Slow Boat from 2024?

A big highlight for me was the IYP x MA Arts and Education Practices (BCU) takeover on Slow Boat in June and August. The students spent time planning and testing ideas for participatory workshops as part of their studies and at the end of each week IYP took part in these workshops, later providing feedback. The process was a really wholesome and productive sharing of skills, ideas and experience.  

One of my favourite sessions of the year was Curating in the City with Lucy Grubb. IYP members brought in their own artworks and we took these out into the public space around Ikon Gallery, creating ad hoc exhibitions. The session helped us to consider: do we need to exhibit our artwork in galleries? 

We also had a really fun session with artist Courtenay Welcome, who is interested in the role of the frame in contemporary art. Together we produced assemblage sculptures with carefully selected items from our homes.

Have there been any artist collaborations with IYP / Slow Boat? 

A major collaboration for us this year was with the School of Jewellery, through which we worked with artist-blacksmith Annie Higgins and artist-educator Dauvit Alexander. With Annie, IYP produced decorative tools, which we used to make wax carvings for a series of silver buttons. These artworks – each beautifully detailed, unique and reflective of the interests of the group – were exhibited on Slow Boat in the Autumn.  

We have also been working hard with artist collective Round Lemon to curate an event for other young people in the city. For this, the group considered the budget cuts recently announced by Birmingham City Council and have written a vibrant and really funny manifesto. 

With renewed funding from Freelands Foundation, what are your plans for IYP / Slow Boat in 2025? 

Next year will be a special year for Slow Boat as we are visiting Stoke-on-Trent for the first time. The project, a collaboration with GRAIN Projects, will involve local artists, education partners and arts organisations. IYP will visit Stoke-on-Trent to explore the local arts ecology, rich crafts heritage and canal network.  

IYP will undertake a residency as part of Ikon’s summer exhibition Thread the Loom, expanding their knowledge of weaving practice in Birmingham and the West Midlands. The work produced by the group will be showcased at Ikon Gallery in August 2025.  

IYP are excited to continue working with artists Marley Starskey Butler and Jo Gane who introduced us to their artistic practices in 2024.

About Ikon Youth Programme / Slow Boat.

With renewed funding from Freelands Foundation for three years (2024–2027), Ikon Youth Programme (IYP) continues to activate a converted narrowboat as an alternative art school.

The group of young people, aged 16-21, has developed a regional route which explores the rich art school heritage of Birmingham and the West Midlands. Each year, Slow Boat travels 150 miles of canal network, with annual stop offs in Walsall, Wolverhampton, Tipton, Stourbridge, Smethwick and Coventry.  Read more.