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Looking back at We Care Week 2026: A city-wide celebration of care experienced young people

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  • Community Programme
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A blue board is drawn on with colours and reads 'We Care Week'

We Care Week returns for another unforgettable celebration

This May, Bristol Beacon once again welcomed care-experienced young people, foster carers and families from across the city for We Care Week – a week dedicated to bringing people together through creativity, music and fun shared experiences.

Throughout the week, every corner of the building offered something different to explore. Young people got hands-on with model-making in a special workshop delivered by Aardman Animations, experimented with colour and creativity through UV face painting, and took time to unwind in yoga and mindfulness sessions designed to support wellbeing and self-expression.

The week kicked off with our annual Care Leavers Showcase, which didn’t leave a dry eye in the house! The creativity and resilience of this astonishing group of young people blew the audience away, as they treated us to their original music.

The Weston Stage took on an entirely new atmosphere, transformed into a vibrant club-style space where aspiring DJs and music-makers could get behind the decks, experiment with Loop Stations and create their own sounds.

The third day of celebrations was designed specially for unaccompanied asylum seeker children and young people. Community musicians from the Bristol Beacon Sanctuary Commitee delivered some magical music and creative sessions. It was heart warming to see how some of the young people really grew in confidence; by the end even getting up on stage and performing alongside the musicians!

It was also party time in Lantern Hall! Foster carers and care experienced young people came together to enjoy circus skills, arts and crafts, great food, live music and entertainment. It was lovely to see our regular friends from the Hope Creative Programme, as well as welcome new faces from the care community.

We Care Week sits alongside Hope Creative, our award-winning music programme for care-experienced young people.

Find out more about Hope Creative and our work with care experienced young people

A heartfelt thank you to all of our performers, music tutors, partners and supporters who made We Care Week possible.

A colourful mat is on the floor with toys and creative activities. People sit around it, one with a guitar
A large robot with a yellow face is constructed out of lego. Other similar constructions in bright colours are next to it
Two plastecene figures are on a table - one is Gromit from Wallace & Gromit and the other is a penguin, also from Wallace & Gromit
A large concert hall is filled with blue lights. Large tables are in the room and a band on stage
An orange tray is filled with coloured lego. A poster sits infront of it, titled We Care Week, with event listings
Quilts are piled on a table in colourful patterns. A sign infront reads 'Quilts for children in care'
A cosy space with yoga mats and fairy lights

As part of this year’s Care Leavers Showcase in We Care Week, Kiki captivated audiences with her honest songwriting and beautifully intimate performance.

Hear Kiki talk about her relationship with music, and how it helps her connect with herself, her emotions and those around her.

Thanks so much for our partners at Bristol City Council children and Young Person Services for partnering with us to make this happen. It’s down to long, meaningful partnerships, relationship building and trust that enables us to continue to deliver and grow year on year. I want Bristol Beacon to be a safe space for our care experienced young people, where they can find joy, create meaningful, happy memories and thrive. Watching them all moving around our spaces freely, trying new things and getting creative really confirmed that that is what is happening. Bring on We Care Week 2027!”

Lu Bristow, Creative Producer

Hope Creative has been made possible thanks to the generous support from Arts Council England, Bristol City Council, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, and a number of charitable trusts and foundations and individual supporters, including Garfield Weston Foundation, The 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust, The Beaverbrook Foundation, The Linder Foundation, The Morel Trust, The Nisbet Trust, The Portishead Nautical Trust, Rayne Foundation, S. A. Watson, and The Segelman Trust.

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Care Experienced Young People
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Care Experienced Young People

An award-winning programme empowering care-experienced young people and their carers through transformative music-making.

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More community programmes
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More community programmes

Our community programmes – Creative Health & Wellbeing, Care Experienced Young People, Music & Disability, Festivals & Events – bring people together through the power of music.

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Be Creative
A trombone player performs to a group of people of varying ages. Everyone is laughing.

Be Creative

We believe in the power of music to inspire, teach and transform lives. Find out how you can make space for music with us.

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