The Future Fearless story: Turning biggest fears into anthem awesomeness!

The fears we don’t face become limits. But the ones we do become opportunities.

This idea was the inspiration behind our Future Fearless course: a 7-week creative masterclass empowering the next generation of fearless female creatives.

Instead of letting their biggest fears hold them back, the girls would turn them into superpowers and use them to grow. They brought those superpowers to life in an awesome Spotify anthem, music video and AR filter to share their message with the world: we’re Future Fearless!

Watch now!

Representation matters: Working with relatable role models in the creative industry

Did you know that in many high profile art and design schools, 7 out of 10 students are women — but that the number of women who hold top jobs in the creative industry later in their lives drops to just 1 in 10?

The Project Fearless and dentsuACHTUNG! minds behind this course believe a female perspective can bring more creativity into this world. So we wanted to give the girls the chance to unleash their creative powers and discover that there’s room for them in the industry in future, if that’s the path they choose.

“There were a couple of times in the course where I thought ‘This could be cool to do for a living!’” — Lola, age 11

Over the 7-week Future Fearless masterclass, the kids worked with brilliant female creatives, who became relatable role models as they guided the girls through the art and science of songwriting, recording, production and more.

“I didn’t know anyone in the industry personally before doing this course. I just followed voice actors I looked up to. I’d like to do something with photography, filming or scriptwriting. Definitely something in the art or movie theatre genre.” — Tamsin, age 11

The girls learned about the professional skills used at every stage, from ideation to execution, visiting leading creative agencies and music production venues to experience their inner workings first-hand. Shout-out to our Future Fearless Head Coaches, Bex McNally and Rita Lopes van den Broek, Senior Art Director and Copywriter at dentsuACHTUNG!, and the MassiveMusic team!

“My favourite part was helping with sound in the recording studio, controlling all the buttons. I’d like to try more of that in future, behind the scenes.” — Inês, age 11

Highlights included storyboarding concepts for their music video with director Thessa Meijer, working with the awesome team from VideOrbit Studio to create an AR filter inspired by the girls’ fears and how they chose to overcome them, and making their iconic Fear Monster costume from scratch!

There’s even a Future Fearless Instagram sticker pack created from the girls’ course notebook doodles!

Future Fearless for the rest of their lives

All in all, the 7 weeks were a jam-packed introduction to the weird and wonderful careers out there where the girls can use their creativity — and a brilliant experience of how teamwork is key to making ideas more powerful.

But most importantly for the long term, the girls learned to look at their fears in a positive way. They’ve come out of the course stronger, knowing they can flip any fear they face from now on to help them become more fearless.

“I’m less scared of speaking up in front of other people now. I always have ideas, but before I never said them. Now I do say them, so I think this course helped.” — Famke, age 11
“Don’t stay away from your fear. If you’re afraid of something, don’t run away from it because then you’ll always be scared. Grab it, get to know it and then it won’t be so scary.” — Evi, age 11

The Future Fearless crew: Ella, Evi, Famke, Inês, Lola, Madelief, Myrah, Pippa, Ruslana and Tamsin

Want to dive into the whole Future Fearless journey? Click below to watch the case film!

Watch the case film

The Future Fearless message to other girls around the world

Once they’d used their superpowers to dance battle the Fear Monster, all the girls’ Future Fearless creations were launched on social media to inspire other girls to be Future Fearless, too!

“To other girls listening to the song, I’d say that it’s extremely normal to be scared and that it’s a part of life. But at some point, you need to get over your fear and whatever way you do that, be proud of the accomplishment.” — Ella, age 13
“The message we worked so hard on is that you can overcome any fear you have, especially when you’re young. Hopefully, this video inspires you to fight your fear!” — Madelief, age 12
“To other girls who are going to listen to the song and watch the music video, I would say: Believe in yourself.” — Tamsin, age 11

We hope to continue giving everyone a fearless boost with the Future Fearless song and music video, so we’d love it if you shared them around so they can reach as many new eyes and ears as possible!