During the visit, Dame Rachel spoke to participants from our Shine programme, as well as parents and grandparents at our Little Curve session that day. She heard what young people think about their lives in Leicester and what Curve means to them.

Dame Rachel then spoke about the importance of the arts for children in a special panel discussion, hosted by Geeta Pendse, where attendees heard from members involved in our Shine programme – including our Chief Executive Chris Stafford, Dr. Nik Kotecha from the Randal Foundation, Shelley Smith from Sunrise Wellbeing, Velisha Jethwa from The City of Leicester College and Dr. Lyndsey Bakewell from De Montfort University University – who reflected on the results of Shine as the first year of the groundbreaking programme to support the mental health and wellbeing of young people draws to a close.

Watch highlights from the panel discussion in the video below.