Amazon funding award of £30,000 for Rathcoole based youth organisation NACN
The Newtownabbey Arts and Cultural Network (NACN) is celebrating a £30,000 funding boost from online retail giant Amazon.
The Rathcoole-based youth organisation was awarded the grant by the company’s Regional Creatives Fund, which aims to increase access to careers in the creative industries for people from under-served communities.
It will allow the NACN team to introduce new creative project ‘Relaunch Studios’ in January 2026.
The programme is designed to provide young people who may feel alienated from academic learning with the ability to engage in creative opportunities.
In a social media post, NACN wrote: “At Relaunch Studios, we recognise that many neurodivergent young people are overflowing with creativity, talent, and unique perspectives.
"You are not ‘different’ in a negative way: you are innovators, thinkers, makers, and problem-solvers. Our project is fully inclusive, designed to celebrate those differences, not suppress them.
"If you’re not going to school because you’ve been made to feel unwelcome; if you’re tired of being told you’re ‘useless’; if your skills, ideas, and talents are constantly pushed aside because they don’t fit the narrow boxes or outcomes schools are looking for, then this is the place for you.”
Relaunch Studios will provide industry-standard equipment, mentoring from creative professionals, and use a modern, creative approach to tackle underachievement.
“It will also support personal development and real-world opportunities, while giving both the young, and the not-so-young, an alternative to systems that haven’t worked for them,” NACN said.
Meanwhile, a separate project starting next week in Inniscoole Day Centre will see NACN engaging in intergenerational work with elderly residents.
The project will support them in creating a song using AI, along with a digital music video inspired by photographs from their own albums.
It is the first digital project to be delivered out in the community, with NACN aiming to bring the initiative to other retirement homes around the borough.
About NACN
A National Lottery Community-funded organisation, NACN provides young people with alternative opportunities within the creative industries – one of the fastest growing industries in the world.
Among the facilities at NACN’s Coole Studios is a podcast suite, where their podcast The Coole Report is produced; studio and rehearsal space; a DJ booth; a game development suite, and a workshop area.