Case Studies
These case studies offer a fuller view of my work across youth development, creativity, wellbeing and participatory practice. They reflect the kinds of spaces, programmes and partnerships I’ve helped shape across arts, education, health and community settings.
Bernie Grant Arts Centre
Building an artist development space rooted in identity, growth and industry readiness
Who
Bernie Grant Arts Centre is a cultural venue committed to supporting culturally diverse artists, communities and creative development. I designed and led the delivery of the Amplify Artist Development Programme supported by Warner Music Group, a six-week programme designed to support emerging young artists in strengthening their creative practice, clarifying their artistic identity and growing in confidence as they navigate the music industry.
The challenge
Many young artists have talent, instinct and potential, but do not always have access to the kind of structured, intentional support that helps them make sense of who they are, what they want to say and how they want to move through the industry with clarity.
The opportunity was not simply to deliver music sessions, but to create a developmental space where young people could reflect, experiment, collaborate, build agency & ownership and take themselves seriously as artists.
My role
As lead facilitator, I designed and delivered the core programme journey from start to finish. This included shaping sessions, holding the learning environment, coordinating guest contributions and supporting the cohort’s development through to a final public showcase.
Approach
My approach brought together music-making, songwriting, production, stage presence, artist identity work and honest conversations about the realities of creative life and sustainability in the industry. I centred the young people as artists in development rather than passive recipients of information, creating a space that balanced structure with openness, reflection, experimentation and peer learning.
Impact
Over the six weeks, the cohort showed clear growth in confidence, self-awareness and creative ownership. Participants became more able to articulate their sound, influences and direction, more willing to take creative risks and more grounded in their sense of themselves as artists. The programme culminated in a live showcase, giving them the opportunity to step into performance with greater confidence, coherence and presence.
What this shows
This work reflects how I approach artist development more broadly: not as a process of polishing talent for presentation, but as a process of helping young people build the internal and creative foundations needed to grow with depth, confidence and direction.
Mandem’s Quarters – Movement Makers CIC
Creating a space for Black and Brown men to heal, process and build together
Who
Mandem’s Quarters is a men’s wellbeing circle and retreat I co-designed and led the facilitation of through Movement Makers CIC, my community interest company. The work was supported by grant funding from UFFC. What began as a regular online circle, a consistent, confidential space for men to check in, speak from the heart and listen with compassion grew into a three-day residential retreat in Kent in July 2025: a weekend for Black and Brown men to step away from daily life and go deeper together.
The challenge
Men are often carrying more than they have space to say. Grief, anger, pressure, contradiction held privately, because the spaces where men can speak honestly without judgement, advice or competition are rare, and rarer still for Black and Brown men.
The task was not to run another talking group, but to build a space with enough structure, trust and consistency that vulnerability became possible and then to hold it well.
My role
I co-designed the format and led the facilitation across both the circle and the retreat. That included shaping the session structure, writing the framing and agreements that held the space, coordinating co-facilitators and guest contributors, and carrying responsibility for safeguarding and care throughout.
Approach
The circle runs on a deliberate rhythm: a grounded check-in across the physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual; open sharing where each man speaks without interruption and without receiving advice; and closing reflections where each man names what he’s leaving with. The discipline of listening without fixing is the heart of the practice, it teaches men to hear each other, and themselves, differently. The retreat extended this into a three-day residential setting — combining brotherhood, open conversations around men’s mental health, healthy eating, hiking, meditation, fitness and reflective teaching so the depth built over months of circles could land in the body as well as the conversation.
Impact
Over the months of circles and through the retreat, the men described real shifts: feeling able to voice emotions rather than bottle them, connecting with parts of themselves they’d forgotten, finding steadier ground with grief, anger and self-criticism, and discovering the power of being heard without judgement. Several asked for one thing above all: more of it, and more in person.
“Solomon created a safe, grounded space where men could show up fully, without pressure or judgement. The care, structure, and flow of the retreat made it both restorative and empowering. As my first retreat of this kind — having relocated to the UK relatively recently — it gave me a real sense of confidence, belonging, and meaningful connection that can otherwise be hard to find. This work truly matters.” — Moronkeji Yusuf, retreat participant, July 2025
What this shows
This work sits at the centre of my practice: designing and holding spaces where healing is treated as serious, skilled work — with structure, cultural grounding and care and where men leave more resourced for themselves, their families and their communities.
WEST Youth Zone / 100 Black Men of London
Building confidence, leadership and clearer pathways for young people
Who
WEST Youth Zone and 100 Black Men of London are both organisations committed to supporting young people through development, mentoring, leadership and opportunity. Across my work with both, I have contributed to spaces designed to help young people strengthen confidence, communication and direction.
The challenge
In these contexts, the issue is rarely a lack of potential. More often, young people are navigating uncertainty, low confidence, limited access to opportunity or environments that have not consistently reflected their value back to them.
What is often needed is not generic advice, but intentional spaces that combine trust, challenge, reflection and practical development.
My role
My role has included designing and delivering coaching, mentoring and group-based development experiences that support leadership, employability, communication and personal growth. This has included helping young people build confidence in their voice, recognise their strengths and take greater ownership over their direction.
Approach
My approach is rooted in high expectations and relational depth. I work to create conditions where young people can think more clearly, see themselves differently and engage their own capacity with more honesty and intention. That means creating spaces where challenge is held alongside encouragement, and where development is not reduced to surface-level motivation or quick fixes.
Impact
This work has supported young people to grow in confidence, become more reflective, improve how they communicate and engage more seriously with the opportunities in front of them. It has also helped young people move from passive aspiration towards a more active sense of ownership over their future, whether in education, work, enterprise or leadership.
What this shows
This case study reflects an important part of my practice: helping young people build the inner and outer tools needed to move forward with greater confidence, self-awareness and agency.
Wigmore Hall / Great Ormond Street Hospital
Using creative practice to support expression, connection and wellbeing
Who
My work with organisations including Wigmore Hall and Great Ormond Street Hospital has involved contributing to creative spaces where music and participatory practice become tools for connection, expression and care.
The challenge
In health and wellbeing settings, creative work cannot afford to be superficial.
The task is not simply to deliver an activity, but to help create an atmosphere where people feel safe enough to take part, express something of themselves and connect with others.
That requires sensitivity, flexibility and a strong awareness of what the room needs, especially when working with children and young people whose lives may already be shaped by uncertainty, vulnerability or challenge.
My role
Within these settings, I worked as a creative facilitator, drawing on music, participation and relational practice to support spaces that felt responsive, engaging and human.
Approach
My approach is grounded in presence and responsiveness. I use creative practice as a way of opening up space rather than closing it down, making room for play, expression, shared experience and moments of confidence that may not otherwise have had an outlet. The work is structured, but never rigid. It holds intention while remaining sensitive to the emotional and relational dynamics of the environment.
Impact
The impact of this work sits in the quality of participation it makes possible. When creative spaces are held well, they can support wellbeing, help people feel more connected and create moments of confidence, release or recognition that matter. My contribution in these settings has been to help make that possible through facilitation that is calm, relational and rooted in care.
What this shows
This work demonstrates my ability to bring creativity into health and wellbeing contexts in a way that is thoughtful, grounded and genuinely responsive to the needs of the people in the room.
Southbank Centre / Royal Central School of Speech and Drama / The Old Vic / Roundhouse
Designing participatory spaces that centre voice, reflection and cultural relevance
Who
Through my work with organisations including Southbank Centre, the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and The Old Vic, I have contributed to programmes and participatory spaces exploring creativity, wellbeing, equity and the role of culture in shaping meaningful engagement.
The challenge
These kinds of institutions often want participation to be deeper, more inclusive and more honest, but reaching that point requires more than opening the door. It requires facilitation and design that genuinely values lived experience, understands group process and creates the conditions for people to contribute in ways that feel real rather than performative.
My role
My contribution across these settings has included facilitation, advisory input and creative practice that supports reflection, dialogue and collective learning. I bring a perspective grounded in youth work, community practice, arts facilitation and cultural relevance.
Approach
My approach centres trust, contribution and relational intelligence. I design and facilitate in ways that invite people in without flattening their experience. That means making space for reflection, embodied participation, dialogue and creativity, while also paying attention to power, access and the subtle dynamics that shape whether people feel they truly belong.
Impact
This work has helped create environments that feel more participatory, more grounded in lived experience and more open to the knowledge people already carry. It has also supported institutions to engage young people and communities in ways that are less extractive and more connected, making participation feel like something shared rather than managed.
What this shows
This case study shows my ability to work not only as a facilitator, but as a thought partner in the design of spaces that centre voice, belonging and cultural relevance.