The Stepping Stones programme promotes positive mental health and provides regular long-term opportunities for young people in Hampshire to use creativity to build emotional resilience. The high-quality sessions are delivered by professional artists and held in our museums and cultural venues.
For six years Hampshire Cultural Trust (HCT) worked in partnership with Hampshire Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) on two projects that provided innovative, creative support for young people experiencing challenges managing their emotional and psychological health, ICE (Inspire, Create, Exchange) and ICE Heritage.
The successor to these two programmes is Stepping Stones, which was generously supported by Imagine This (formally The Murray Parish Trust) from February 2024 - May 2025, and builds on learnings from the two ICE projects. Continuing HCT’s mission to enable young people to access high-quality arts and culture across the county.
You can read the evaluation report from the first phase of Stepping Stones here.
We have just launched the next phase of the Stepping Stones programme, which is generously supported by the Museums Association and the Julia Rausing Trust. We will be running 5-week programmes in four locations (Winchester, Basingstoke, Alton and Gosport), starting in April 2026. Please read below to find out more about our upcoming programmes.
Stepping Stones in Gosport | Hampshire Cultural Trust
Stepping Stones in Alton | Hampshire Cultural Trust
Stepping Stones - Home Education in Basingstoke | Hampshire Cultural Trust
Stepping Stones - Home Education in Winchester | Hampshire Cultural Trust
Check out the film which Stepping Stones participants created during a 10-week programme below:
