Our Story

“Young people are solutions for the city. They are the ones enriching local communities with ideas”

— Marcus Faustini, Agency founder

Our story

The Agency is a creative entrepreneurship programme enabling young people aged 15 to 25 from some of the most underserved areas in the UK to generate social change projects based on the needs they identify in their own communities. The Agency was originally developed by the Brazilian theatre maker, activist and journalist Marcus Faustini in the favelas of Rio De Janeiro.

The programme was brought to the UK through a partnership between Battersea Arts Centre (BAC), Contact and People Palace Projects (PPP). Instead of asking what they can do to help young people through the arts, they thought about how they can pool their resources, knowledge and expertise to foster change based on the desires of young people.

 
 
Young people taking part in various agency activities around the UK.
 
 

Starting off in 2013

Since starting in the UK in 2013, The Agency has had a significant impact not only on the young people who have taken part but also the organisations and communities that have enabled them to realise their ideas. 

The Agency has been run in Belfast and Cardiff in collaboration with FabLab Belfast and The National Theatre of Wales, as well as The Kiln in Brent, and Blackhorse Workshop in Waltham Forest as part of the Mayor of London's Borough of Culture Programme. A version of The Agency has also piloted in Feltham Young Offenders Institute for boys aged 15-17, in 2019-20. The Agency continues to grow nationally with Energise Me in Southampton joining the network in 2021, and more partners ready to start.

The Agency seeks to be truly representative of the local area, working with young people who are driven and ambitious with lots of ideas, as well as those who may not think they have anything to contribute to their local area, in order to drive social innovation from the ground up. 

“We ask two questions: who is the most talented young person you know who should be in this project? And who are the ones who are not engaged at all, who you imagine won’t have any ideas? Because we want both of them.”

— Marcus Faustini, Agency founder

A group of Agents from Southampton smiling and waving to the camera
 
 
A group of Agents from London posing with Marcus Faustini, the founder of The Agency

Capacity to mobilise change

Time and time again young people have proven their capacity to mobilise change - from Malala Yousafzai and Greta Thunberg to uprisings across the globe, young people have so often been at the heart of social change. The Agency recognises that youth are disproportionately affected by the relentless everyday challenges that poverty, inequality, Covid, global conflict and the environmental crisis bring. And therefore, through this lived experience and deeper understanding of these issues, they are the people best placed to drive change.

In addition, The Agency also acknowledges that those who have felt the strain of these issues first hand, particularly growing up in poverty, have a huge capacity for experimentation and innovation, as they know the need to make something from nothing all too well.

The Agency seizes this potential and charges these young people – the ones who are often seen as the problem or needing help – with driving much needed transformation in their own lives and communities. By developing their creative voice, The Agency encourages them to think critically about their place in the world whilst sharing strategies to act upon their dreams for a better future.

The Agency supports young people to create youth-led social enterprises, events and projects that will have a positive and long-lasting impact on their local areas. It does this through facilitating young people to have the self-confidence, skills and a creative mind set needed to be protagonists in their lives and the world around them.

 

“The Agency supported my growth and allowed me insight into avenues of other support systems too. It's given me a can-do attitude generally with artistic projects knowing that I can make my ideas happen.”

— London Agent

 
 

A summary of The Agency so far…

 

  • Agência de Redes para Juventude founded in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and has since worked in dozens of favelas, directly engaging more than 1,000 young people through 93 funded projects.

  • UK staff team train in the Agencia methodology through several sessions with Marcus Faustini (founder, Brazil).

  • The Agency pilots and adapts the methodology with young people in London (BAC) and Manchester (Contact), supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

  • The Agency builds a robust evaluation framework and continues to deliver the programme in London and Manchester, supported by the National Lottery Community Fund’s Reaching Communities programme.

  • The Agency pilots ways of growing the programme by working in Cardiff (in partnership with National Theatre Wales) and Belfast (in partnership with Fablab at the Ashton Community Centre), supported by the National Community Trust’s Growing Great Ideas programme.

  • The Agency continues to grow, working with new partners Blackhorse Workshop and Waltham Forest Council (Waltham Forest, London) and Kiln Theatre and Brent Council (Brent, London), supported by the Mayor’s London Borough of Culture programme.

  • The Agency begins work in Southampton, UK, with Energise Me