Burberry Inspire

Designed in partnership with Burberry Group plc and supported by The Burberry Foundation, the Burberry Inspire program aims to create opportunities for more than 500,000 young people over the next three years to unlock their creativity and drive positive change in their lives and communities.

At the heart of Burberry Inspire is a commitment to respecting the diversity of young people’s lived experiences, valuing their perspectives, elevating their authentic voices, and supporting their creative development and expression. This approach to youth development, referred to as Creative Youth Development (CYD), recognizes that creativity and creative expression take different forms. For example, some young people may demonstrate their creative spark through painting, music, theatre, or dance while others may express themselves in a STEM-related field by finding innovative solutions to serious challenges faced by people close to home, or across the globe. From a CYD perspective, we know the positive role creativity—of all varieties—plays in the development of a young person’s self-confidence, connection to self and others, and sense of hope for the future.

This commitment to CYD is shared by IYF, The Burberry Foundation, and eight youth-serving partner organizations that are already empowering young people in their countries and communities. Among these local partners are organizations that focus on the creative arts; science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); life and leadership skill building; and a variety of other programming that makes them a perfect fit for the Burberry Inspire initiative. Operating in Italy, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, the United States–and soon also in Hong Kong S.A.R., China– these organizations bring critical expertise and a deep understanding of local contexts, including the unique challenges and needs of the young people in whose lives they are already making a powerful difference. Some of them have been working in the youth-serving space for 30, 50, and up to 100 years. Not surprisingly, all of them have impressive track records of effectiveness.