About Us
Second Wave empowers young people's creativity and activism through engaging young people as performers, writers, lyricists and technicians - developing new productions and youth-led creative outreach projects in the community.
Our Values
Second Wave's Youth Led Practice
Second Wave Youth Arts
First Floor, Deptford Mission Building
1 Creek Road
Deptford, SE8 3BT
Phone: 020 8694 2444
Email: info@secondwave.org.uk
Registered charity number: 1024836
Company number: 2841537
Our Purpose
Second Wave empowers young people's creativity and activism through engaging young people as performers, writers, lyricists and technicians - developing new productions and youth-led creative outreach projects in the community.
A registered charity, Second Wave has been working with young people and developing new plays for young audiences since 1982.
The company has developed the careers of many young writers, performers and educators.
As an independent charity, Second Wave raises income to support an ongoing programme of work with young people.
Our Impact
In June 2021, Second Wave received the King’s Award for Voluntary Service for the work of our young volunteers.
In 2015, Second Wave’s Community Development Worker was awarded the British Empire Medal in recognition of ground-breaking work to build trust between young people, the police and the wider community.
In 2024, Second Wave's Jessica Davey was awarded a BEM for her work in supporting young people.
Young leaders from Second Wave have been invited to the House of Lords to contribute to policy debates around policing of young adults.
In 2023, they visited our local MP Vicky Foxtrot in Parliament to discuss issues of importance for young people.
In 2014, Second Wave was nominated for the Mayor of London Peace Awards for youth engagement addressing the growing issue of knife crime.
In 2007, a Metropolitan Police Service Commendation was awarded to Second Wave for services to young people and the wider community.
The University of Greenwich is currently working with Second Wave on a research project examining our model of creative leadership practice.
Our Legacy
40 years of Youth Led Practice
Second Wave was established in 1982 by a group of local young women to address the under-representation of working-class young women in the arts. They created a series of innovative programmes which strengthened young women's participation in the arts as performers, playwrights, musicians, and producers.
In the 1990s, Second Wave registered as a charity, expanding its mission by creating programmes for both young men and young women which challenged under-representation, and supported their wider creative ambitions.
Over the last 40 years, Second Wave has commissioned new writers, produced original plays, films and anthologies, developed bespoke accreditation, toured extensively, developed ground-breaking partnerships, placing youth voices at the heart of decision-making.
Members of Second Wave are curating a wide range of archive materials to share this history with the public. This includes a series of podcasts, play-readings, outreach workshops, exhibitions plus an online gallery of remarkable photographs detailing our history over the last 40 years.
If you are an alumni or supporter of Second Wave, and would like to share your stories with us, please consider getting in touch.
Children of the Windrush Generation
Our Trustees
Second Wave is registered charity and we are governed by a board of trustees.
Our policies
Read our policy statements
Second Wave is managed by our trustees and staff who take responsibility for the functioning of our organisation.
We have a set of policies that ensure our participants, staff and volunteers who work with us feel safe and respected. We are committed to taking any and all concerns seriously and seek resolutions to the best of our ability at all stages.
Please click below to see our list of policies around keeping young people and staff safe, data protection and user privacy.
Recognition
King's Award For Voluntary Service
For our contributions to youth arts, education, community engagement and social justice benefits in Lewisham, we were awarded the King's Award for Voluntary Service, the highest honour a charity can receive in UK.
In this video, our volunteers tell you more about the award and what volunteering means to them.
Support Our Work
We know that these are difficult times and we are working tirelessly to ensure young people have access to high-quality arts provision. All your contributions will go directly into keeping our venue and programmes by the youth for the youth.
Get in touch
Send a message to the Second Wave team
If you’d like to speak to someone, please call 020 8694 2444. Alternatively, please use the contact form below.
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Stay in touch
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Receive emails from Second Wave Youth Arts with information about our programme and how you can get involved.
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We use Tiktok, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Linkedin social media platforms.
You are welcome to follow our profiles, we keep our programme up to date on our website and our platforms.
You can read our social media community guidelines to find out more about how we manage our platforms.