This report was written by Northern Star as an independent evaluator on behalf of Creative Scotland, seeking to evaluate the effectiveness of the National Youth Arts Advisory Group (NYAAG) model in terms of both process and impact, and to provide guidance on areas of improvement and development.
It provides a strong example of how Creative Scotland, with the right support from a facilitating agency, has devolved both decision-making power and funding for strategic and operational delivery to young people.
The NYAAG was founded in 2014 under the name ‘Youth Arts Voice Scotland’ (YAVS). Young Scot were commissioned by Creative Scotland to manage NYAAG and a total of 15 young people were selected from across Scotland through an open recruitment process to support and provide feedback to the implementation phase of Time to Shine - the National Youth Arts Strategy.
During that time, YAVS had four main roles:
Due to falling numbers as group members moved on, the group was renewed in May 2017, bringing the number of members up to 34. The group was renamed the National Youth Arts Advisory Group (NYAAG), and has continued to be managed by Young Scot.