The Agency

Young people leading change in their communities.

Welcome to The Agency Manchester, run by Contact since 2013. Every year we run programmes aimed at empowering young people to become creative leaders and change-makers in their communities.

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.

“Young people are solutions for the city. They are the ones enriching local communities with ideas” — Marcus Faustini, Agency founder

Learn more about how The Agency operates nationally here.

Learn more

HOW DO WE USUALLY RECRUIT?

We provide young people (or Agents) with the professional training, support and advice they need to generate new innovative ideas.

Agents pitch their ideas to an expert panel that decides which projects will be receiving seed funding of £2,000 and additional support, helping their ideas grow and reach bigger audiences.

Over the past 5 years over 266 young people have taken part in The Agency with projects receiving £178,547 in funding.

A man stands in a room surrounded by young Agents and excitedly pointing — 2022 Victor Oderinde – OVO Gallery

A group of young people huddle on the floor, drawing on a shared sheet of paper — 2022 Victor Oderinde – OVO Gallery

‘The Agency has given me the chance to be in a positive environment, it has helped me to have hope, and to see that there is another page to life, another perspective.’
Farhad, The Agency

HOW DID IT START?

The Agency was originally developed by the Brazilian theatremaker and journalist Marcus Faustini in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, where the project has become a major force for change – Agencia de Redes para Juventude.

The Agency began in the UK in the Moston and Harpurhey areas of North Manchester, and the Clapham Junction and Battersea areas of London (in collaboration with Battersea Arts Centre and People’s Palace Projects). In 2017, The Agency was awarded £883,771 by the Big Lottery Fund to grow the project nationally to communities in Belfast and Cardiff in collaboration with FabLab Belfast and The National Theatre of Wales.

Interested in establishing The Agency in your local community? Talk to The Agency today at this link here.

Credits and Partners

The Agency is funded by The National Lottery Community Fund and Kristian Gerhard Jebsen Foundation.

The UK pilot was funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT

In 2019, Agency participants from Manchester and London presented to politicians and policy-makers at the Houses of Parliament, speaking about their projects and the impact of the programme on their communities. The project was also the focus of a major Guardian article: Knives, gangs and kids: how to break the cycle.

MANCHESTER AGENCY PROJECTS 2026

Mask by Mary

Mary wanted to create an intentional, creative, transformative, impactful online space to motivate upcycling and responsible safe humane environmental shopping.

She worked with local skills makers and charity shops to produce a series of 3 videos teaching Mary how to upcycle her clothes using new skills (e.g basic mending, sewing.) She also worked with a content maker to learn how to edit these videos. She then had her launch of MASK at the Irish World Heritage Centre which involved workshops from local makers to share their skills with the community and a swap shop - all to decrease the use of fast fashion and using the community to help learn how to care for clothes sustainably, even when you're on a budget.

Diary of Freedom by Kelisha

Kelisha wrote a creative book to activate young girl’s minds and pave a path of creativity so they aren’t subject to the pressure’s of the world and nurture their individuality. The book follows a young girl called Atari as she navigates her day to day life while incorporating mindfulness activities(including painting, baking and leaf journaling) that you can follow along to while you read the book. She had her launch event at the Harpurhey Neighbourhood Project where she had a read a few excerpts from the book, gifted everyone who attended some equipment for the mindfulness activity. She also had some raffles and people won some exciting prizes

No Blade, Bright Futures by Christian

Christian wanted to raise awareness on Knife crime in the area and do something impactful to make a difference. He ran 2 separate workshops at the Manchester Youth Zone in collaboration with Kemoy Walker and Joel Tennant to educate young people on knife crime and how to keep safe. They spoke on their own personal experiences and gave unique insight. Christian also collected data from the young people on their needs. His questions varied from whether they feel safe in their territory, to if they felt it would be helpful to have amnesty bins to put knives in the territory to lower knife crime in the area. He plans to share the data he acquired this report with local councillors and policy makers to make an impact and allow young people to feel safe in the area.