Blog post by Binks Hub student intern Brigid McCormack
On May 31st, the Citadel Youth Centre and the Binks Hub joined forces on their “New Direction for Youth Led Practice, Research and Policy” event. Attended by people from both academia and the third sector, the day was aimed at bridging the gap between academic research and communities by exploring youth-led practice.
The event took place at the Citadel Youth Centre in Leith and consisted of three speakers and a lunch provided by Scran Academy. With a great mix of people and experiences in youth-led practice, the afternoon was buzzing with new ideas and connections.
Which creative youth-led approach are you?
Ryan McKay kicked off the day with a creative ice breaker based on this question: What creative youth-led approach are you? Each table was given playdough and a piece of paper with an object symbolising a youth-led approach. Each participant then introduced themselves, while the others guessed which youth-led approach they had created.
Despite the range of backgrounds from different practice and research-based roles, many had crafted similar symbols. Paintbrushes, plants, and microphones, and people were just some symbols that appeared multiple times around the room.
Ryan continued the conversation around creative youth-led practice by recapping the successes in youth-led and intergenerational programs by the Citadel. Recently, Citadel Youth Centre produced a programme called Old’s Cool, which focusses on intergenerational digital practice. Over Zoom, young people and older people were able to create and craft together doing different activities such as storytelling and mural painting with the help of 17 different partners.
An Old’s Cool digital toolkit and award-winning Citadel Love Stories Storytelling Project is accessible for more organisations to tap into creative youth-led practice.
Ryan emphasised throughout that collaboration is essential when seeking for more opportunities for creative youth-led practice. While Covid-19 caused some physical barriers, the program was a success that they are hoping to continue in the future.
The Unity Gym Project
The Unity Gym Project came from the need for safe spaces dedicated to youth and community development in Broomhall, Sheffield. Offering services such as mentorship and safe spaces, the Unity Gym Project engages with their local young people to create a wider community change.
Will Mason, Saeed Brasab, and Maleiki Haybe from the project spoke on the barriers and limitations they face in youth-led practice.
Similarly to the Citadel Youth Centre, the Unity Gym Project faced interruptions from COVID-19. In the face of poverty, inequality, and violence, the young people that Will, Saeed, and Maleiki work with face adversity and challenges every day. Will, Maleiki, and Saeed highlighted the urgent need for connection in their local community after the pandemic.
The youth in Sheffield, Will notes, face racialised inequality, crime, and poverty. “The community knows what’s best for them,” Maleiki said. Having been involved with Unity Gym Project since he was 12, Maleiki noted the importance of community organisations like Unity Gym Project.
Having created a documentary and podumentary, Will, Maeliki, and Saeed noted how important it is to give the youth the tools to rewrite their own narrative. Focussing on co-creation and partnership with others, their documentary and creative outputs have become a good evaluative tool of all the success and achievement in youth-led practice in their corner of Sheffield.
Unity Gym Project’s newest grand CivAct will support anti-racist youth activism and fund youth workers to work full time with the project. Ending on some reflections in youth leadership, Will Mason emphasised how important it is to be present and listen to young people.
Shared questions about youth-led practice and research
In between talks, the room was alive with conversation surrounding youth-led practice and experience. Some questions recurred throughout the day:
- How do you balance your own presence and the young-persons’ agency and leadership?
- How can you add value to things that you are already doing?
- How do you challenge young people and allow them to lead with the right tools?
The Citadel Youth Centre’s intergenerational model and The Unity Gym Project’s film-making endeavours are their own answers to these questions, and testimony to how creativity is an outlet to innovation and further developing youth-led practice.
Youth-led research into positive masculinity
Vicki Ridley, senior development officer of Youth Link Scotland, ended the afternoon by talking about her experience in youth-led research into positive masculinity. What began as a kitchen table conversation has now launched into youth-led research and education surrounding positive masculinity and what an ideal future is for boys and young men in Scotland.
Vicki and a steering group, including Binks Hub co-director Emma Davidson, posed questions about positive masculinity to young people. While there were many questions to be answered, the young people focussed on one question: what is positive masculinity?
Vicki notes that youth-led research means allowing young people to guide the researchers toward the answer and new ideas. Surveys and conversations reflect the complex relationship that boys and young men of Scotland have with masculinity.
Much talk surrounding masculinity mentions the term ‘toxic masculinity.’ Through youth-led research and partnerships with No Knives Better Lives and Youth Link Scotland, Vicki and others are shifting the narrative to make masculinity positive.
“The conversations around masculinity are beginning to improve; they’re starting to get better,” Vicki said.
From the youth-led research, boys and young men noted that connection is essential to feeling grounded and important. Other traits that boys and young men noted as important to positive masculinity were confidence and caring.
Vicki ended her presentation with a final question: when the youth-led research is over, what happens next?
The data gathered from the research done thus far has been put to good use. No Knives Better Lives, a partner of Youth Link Scotland, has launched a toolkit called Imagine a Man to build positive masculinity in young people.
Co-creating collaborative events
The “New Directions for Youth-Led Practice, Research and Policy” event was a celebration of the success of each organisation, as well as a celebration of collaboration within the community and youth-led practice.
Before lunch was served by Scran Academy, each of the tables shared their discussions and takeaways from the day. Two tables mentioned the importance of creating space collate ideas, co-learn, and co-create. Another table mentioned the value of time spent together to foster community and provide young people room to grow and lead in authentic ways.
In this first collaborative event by The Binks Hub and Citadel Youth Centre, Ryan McKay of Citadel Youth Centre reflected positively post-event: “The big thing for us was the collaboration and knowledge exchange that took place”.
The event allowed for people of many areas of practice to pause and spend time together. “It was great to pause and have that day to really just chat all things youth-led practice and reflect on everyone’s individual roles,” said Binks Hub co-director Autumn Roesch-Marsh. One challenge Autumn recognises for future practice and research is how to best transfer knowledge. “Human beings respond best to experiential learning,” she says. “It’s a collective knowledge, how we share learning.”
Collaborative events in practice and research offer a way to explore how to best collaborate and transfer knowledge and experience while reflecting on the achievements already accomplished in youth-led practice. Both The Binks Hub and the Citadel Youth Centre look forward to a continued relationship of collaboration to come.
