The Norfolk Museums Service is offering five bursary-assisted traineeships this year for young people who struggle most to find work, with placements running across King's Lynn, Great Yarmouth and Norwich.

Each traineeship runs for at least ten hours a week over ten weeks and is paid at the living wage. Participants are supervised by museum professionals and gain hands-on experience across the service's sites.

The scheme is part of the broader Kick the Dust (KTD) youth programme and is externally funded. Current participants include young people who are NEET (not in education, employment or training), those with mental health challenges, young people with SEND, and clients of the YMCA Norfolk.

The committee heard first-hand accounts of the scheme's impact. Millie, who joined through the YMCA as a KTD trainee, has since been taken on as a member of Norfolk Museums Service staff. Matt, who began with the THC Youth Group at the Ancient House Museum in Thetford before completing a traineeship, is now working as a Learning Assistant and said the experience made him realise museum learning was the career he wanted to pursue.

Across the wider KTD programme since 2018, 6,128 individual young people have taken part in more than 20,000 high-quality sessions. Of those surveyed, 78% strongly agreed the programme had a positive impact on their mental health and wellbeing, and 95% said it had exceeded their expectations.

The programme is funded through Arts Council England's National Portfolio Organisation uplift funding until March 2028, with a focus on the priority areas of Great Yarmouth, King's Lynn and Thetford. Norfolk County Council's Public Health team also contributes cross-cutting funding to support the mental health and wellbeing strand of the work.