Way back in April 2023, Brave Island started a new fund, Young Creative of the Month, where each month we award £100 to a young creative from the Isle of Wight and share an interview with them on our blog. We had an amazing selection of creatives in 2025, and can’t wait to see who we meet in 2026! We thought it would be great to hear from each of the young creatives again to round off the last year.

Charley Harfield

Charlotte Harfield was our Young Creative of the Month in January of last year. Charlotte is an actor and musical theatre performer. You can read her interview here to find out all about her busy lifestyle as a young performer and student.

Tirzah Brown

Tirzah Brown was our Young Creative for the month of February 2025, she told us about her creative practice which involved creating designs on clothing using bleach. She also featured in 2025 Young Artist Award Exhibition at Quay Arts with an illustrated Skateboard and pair of Jeans. You can read her full interview here.

Amy Jolliffe

Amy Jolliffe was our Young Creative of the Month in March, she’s a singer-songwriter and guitarist from Binstead. Shortly after her interview she performed at our Ventnor Exchange’s Record Store Day 2025. Here’s what she had to say whe we reached out recently for an update.

I was Brave Island’s Young Creative of the Month in March 2025, following the release of my fourth single ‘Love Is’, which came out on Valentine’s Day and was in news articles from The County Press, Island Echo and Isle of Wight Radio.

In March 2025, I was awarded funding from the Mike Howley Trust, which I used for live performance equipment, and to record new music at Empire Sound Studio. The first of these new singles came out on October 10th and is called ‘Take Me Home’. This is a song that I am so proud of. The second single we recorded back in the summer is currently being mixed by producer Dan Ashdown and I am so excited about this one! It’s a bit more upbeat, which I love, and I had so much fun in the studio with some other very talented musicians.

I performed at the Isle of Wight Festival again this year on the Platform One Stage, which is always a special experience. I also played at Ventnor Exchange for Record Store Day, in partnership with Brave Island, and I did four performances at Ventnor Fringe!

I recently started volunteering at Vectis Radio and I will be co-hosting the Thursday afternoon shows with Jack from 1 – 4, starting from the 8th of January. I am passionate about local music and I thought this is a great way to support local musicians. We will be reading the island’s gig guide every week, as well as discussing fun facts and local news, and hopefully we will have some special guests too!

In 2026, I am hoping to release a lot more original music and to do more performances. I am so passionate about music and I am excited to see where this takes me next year.

Check out Amy’s Website here, follow her on Instagram at @amyjolliffemusic and listen to her her music on Spotify

Rosie Johnson

Rosie Johnson was our Young Creative of the Month for April 2025, she is an artist who draws her inspiration from the Natural World. In her interview she told us about her A-Level project on the theme of ‘Unlocking The Biosphere’ in which she focused on her connection with the environment on the Isle of Wight.

Rosie Fennell

Our Young creative of the Month for May was Rosie Fennell, an artist who has also appeared in our Young Artist Award exhibitions at Quay Arts. In her interview back in May, she explained she loves getting to know her sitters through the medium of portraiture.

Leo Randall

Leo was our Young Creative for June 2025, in their interview he told us about his creative practice of (mostly) digital art which he sees as something that is very therapeutic to him. Read more about his work in his initial interview here.

Eleanor Hughes

In September, our Young Creative of the Month was Eleanor Hughes, an Illustrator and Filmmaker who stated her biggest inspirations are 60’s children’s television shows which aimed to be soothing and comforting but had underlying “creepy vibes.” You can read her interview here

Scott Martin

Scott Martin was our Young Creative for the month of October 2025. He’s a young Photographer who’s already built an impressive portfolio from various events including festivals such as Isle of Wight and Ventnor Fringe where he joined our Fringe review team, you can see a selection of his photos here.

Here’s what Scott had to to say when we asked what he’d been up to since we last spoke:

I have been up to alot of things and events so far, I went to Rob Da Bank music club at strings in Newport. I took part at the photography workshop at that event. That workshop let me take photos of the event and the different workshops they have. Like dj mixing, learning with guitar, playing the drums and so much more. There was alot of new music things to do at this event for young people for free. Give young people to show their talent to other people.

Also been going to platform one presents gigs at strings venue in Newport and taking photos at the gigs. And posting photos on my Instagram.

Recently I worked with youth trust and went to one of their events and I have been taking photos at their event for the first time. Hopefully do more events in the future with them.

I also went to London with Brave island for theatre craft. That gave people to learn more about what different roles there is in the theatre industry. Got to go to different workshops and meet new people from university and people that work in the industry. It worth going if you like theatre or want to know more about it.

Next year I am looking forward for doing more photography for Brave Island and Platform One. Hopefully be going to more events and taking photos.

You can see my work on my Instagram at @photography.iow145

Maia Allard-Willcocks

Multi-Disciplinary Artist, Maia Allard-Willcocks was our Young Creative of the Month for November, here’s what she had to say about what she’s been up to, and what’s coming up for her in 2026.

Since my blog in November I’ve primarily been working on a sculpture project for my foundation year which has been exhibited at the Quay Arts! I created a deer sculpture using various 3D materials and methods such as paper mache and epoxy putty. I’ve also been working on digital character work which I aim to develop further as I start preparing for university next year on a games course as well as a business selling my art which I want to set up properly soon. My art Instagram is @biohazard.artt and you can purchase some work on Redbubble!

Ioana Mateescu

December’s Young Creative was Writer and Artist Ioana Mateescu. You can read her interview here. Since we only spoke to her very recently, we asked her about her plans for 2026:

I’m currently planning to get involved more in the VEX Collective and anything related to writing and spoken word. The next VEX Bomb zine will feature pages made by the members themselves, so I will write a poem and do illustrations to match it. It will be like a scrapbook of the collective, which sounds exciting. It’s a very good way to combine my art and my writing. I’m also going to keep an eye on opportunities that involve graphic design or drawings, because nothing will ever replace human art.