Monday 17th November – Friday 21st November
More than forty young people from four Ipswich secondary schools will transform Ipswich town centre for a Youth Voice UNLOCKED project — a new pop-up art trail that celebrates creativity, ambition, and community spirit.
Made possible through Volunteering Matters, the #iWill Movement, and BBC Children in Need, the project gives students the opportunity to share their aspirations and ideas for change through public art during #iWill Week (17–21 November 2025). The trail highlights how young people are actively shaping Ipswich today.
Working with a professional artist, students will design and paint colourful “key” motifs in shop windows and vacant units across the town centre across two days — each representing something young people need to unlock their potential. For example, a music-themed key may symbolise free access to recording space to help fulfil the aspiration of becoming a musician.
The artworks will come together in a large mural at Unit 1 Buttermarket, inspired by Wolsey’s Gate — the historic entrance to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey’s intended college in Ipswich. The Gate stands as a powerful reminder that big dreams can start here, and like Wolsey, young people today are active place-changers, shaping their futures and their town through creativity and youth social action.
The Youth Voice UNLOCKED art trail will be on display and viewable throughout November 2025, bringing people together to celebrate young people’s ideas and spark meaningful conversations about the future of their town. You can catch the students painting live on 17 and 18 November.