Just Say Yes!

It seems odd to be writing this with my Derry-Londonderry City of Culture 2013 pen, (yes, I may be a young person growing up in a technological era, but I always write everything out before I type it!) given that until a year ago, I had never visited the city before.

This first visit, which formed part of my work experience with Voluntary Arts Ireland, saw me at the Nerve Centre, meeting with and interviewing some of their lovely staff members. One year later, with the judging committee having said “YES” to Derry-Londonderry being the first UK City of Culture in 2013, I met with Giorgia Gazzerra to discuss the possibility of the Young Arts Creativity Co-ops working on a joint programme with Reach Across and the Friendship Club, 2 groups based in the city with which Giorgia is involved. We came away with lots of great ideas to bring back to our groups, some of which will hopefully materialise in the not-too-distant future.

Spending some time in the city and the meeting with Giorgia left me thinking about just how much can stem from one simple word, “Yes”. So often, young people are met with “No” responses, but at some point, some years ago, Voluntary Arts Ireland said “yes” to the need to develop a youth-led, youth-centred model for the arts in Northern Ireland. Numerous “yes” declarations since have allowed this to become a reality; for many young people to not only access, but engage in and facilitate arts activities and to have a voice within the youth/arts sectors, as well as gaining new skills while developing old ones, having opportunities for new experiences, meeting new people, visiting new places, (such as an art gallery!) receiving help in relation to their future careers, having fun and doing what they want to do, in their own way that works for them!

Just as the City of Culture 2013 title will undoubtedly be invaluable to Derry-Londonderry, so too, has the YACC project and the continued courage to say “yes” been invaluable to the young people involved.

Back in July 2008, I said “yes” to attending a ‘Create Your Place’ event at Lusty Beg Island with Pauline and two other YACC members, at which we had the opportunity to meet and have important conversations with a wide variety of interesting people. Over a year later, I didn’t hesitate to say “yes” to attending a follow-up event in Donegal which once again consisted of interesting people, (both some who had attended the previous event and some new faces) discussions and arts activities, all in beautiful surroundings. One of those new faces was Giorgia Gazzera. The fact that both Giorgia and I said “yes” to our involvement in ‘Create Your Place’ has led to our continued contact, our meeting last week and following a few more “yeses”, it will hopefully have led to not only a joint project between YACC, Reach Across and the Friendship Club, (among other groups who may be interested) but new friendships, new art work, sustained relations between the groups and ideally, the beginnings of a truly youth-centred, youth-led arts network.

So, “Just Say Yes”?

Don't be an elephant

It's always an interesting prospect working with young people especially in the arts. At the moment there is a growing momentum to involve more young people in decisions that affect their areas of interest and to give them platforms through which they can express themselves.

This is great but the most difficult thing seems to be getting the adults in the room to remain quiet enough for long enough to allow a young persons idea to be articulated. We spend a lot of time talking about the elephants in the room (such a popular phrase) but as adults sometimes forget that we are the elephants.

Not a very attractive image and indeed we must come across as very heavy handed. What must they be thinking, our young people? Mostly "get out of the way" I would think. And yet at all of the meetings and events I have recently attended through Voluntary Arts Ireland's youth-led project which helps set up sustainable voluntary arts groups created by young people for young people, its the young people who have been the best listeners, the most positive influencers and the most creative.

What is crucial though, and this is where the adult elephants can come in, is a facilitated environment that enables young people to participate fully. Our role as adults is to provide a starting framework and support along the way, to provide help when asked from our long memories of the pitfalls and to celebrate the work of young people.

Maybe it requires us to get excited by the "anything is possible" attitude that our young people display so readily. We are looking for new solutions to old problems. As Einstein said: "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."Maybe its time we used our big elephant ears and listened to young people a bit more.