Make the Sunshine and Shepton Mallet Town Council will be working together on a new project set to bring young people's ideas and creativity to the fore thanks to support from Creative Mendip through Mendip District Council.

The project, 374 Ways to Change the World, will explore the power of performance and creativity to challenge, question and inspire action in young people.

Working with six schools across the Shepton Mallet area - Bowlish Infant School, St Paul's Junior School, Shepton Mallet Infant School, St Aldhelm's Primary School in Doulting, Croscombe and Stoke St Michael School Federation - students will explore how creativity can be used to create change and make a difference to people's lives and the world around them.

From flash mobs to craftivism, protest poets to theatre productions, 374 Ways will explore the power of dance, theatre and art to transform hearts and minds and create social change in both local communities and national level.

At the heart of this project will be children using their own creativity. Young people will design their own "social action" project working alongside a professional artist.

It could be cheering up the local doctor's surgery, or it could be creating a tea party with residents at a local care home, it could be a craft campaign to MPs or staging a flash-mob performance for local key workers.

Students will create a series of bespoke community events, campaigns and performances, as well as staging a production written and inspired by the process.

The project will be part performance, part social action, and will bring young voices and ideas to the fore to show how arts and creativity can transform hearts, minds, communities and the planet.

This project is part of a wider programme of work under the same name supported by Wells Festival of Literature, Shepton Mallet Town Council, Strode Theatre and Take Art's Barn Development Programme, and Somerset Community Foundation.

Louise Lappin-Cook from Make the Sunshine said: "We are so excited about working with young people again locally - and this project feels especially poignant coming out of lockdown.

"We are so looking forward to seeing what aspect young people focus on and it's going to be an amazing opportunity for them to try something new and to hopefully see the impact they can have on the world."

Cllr Tim O'Connor, arts culture and tourism committee chair at Shepton Mallet Town Council, said: "This is a fantastic opportunity for children of all ages to think and question the world around them and how they can create change for the better.

"Shepton Mallet Town Council is pleased to support such creative projects that connects our community in such a positive way."