Youth Arts Position Paper

Youth Arts Position Paper
Victoria Durrer, Youth Arts Co-ordinator,
South Dublin County Council

Context
South Dublin County Council strives to support the provision of youth arts activities that champion the voices of young people in the development of their own creativity. The foundation of the youth arts programme is inclusive and collaborative practice, underpinned by youth-leadership and high quality arts experiences.

The youth arts programme is diverse, offering a range of performance, exhibition and showcasing opportunities for young people whilst actively promoting an atmosphere where sharing skills and learning from one another’s practice are a part of the creative experience. Opportunities to work with professional artists are paramount and we believe that by fostering creative and artistic relationships, young people may learn to develop skills for pursuing future pathways in the arts.

Background:
In 2006, South Dublin County Council’s Arts Office published its first Youth Arts Policy. Arising from consultation with youth and arts organisations in the area, this Policy contained a series of recommendations for supporting and further developing best practice in youth arts within the County.

To date, the Art Office has achieved the following:

•Hired a Youth Arts Coordinator to oversee the execution of the new Youth Arts Policy.
•Increased opportunities for young people to work with professional artists both by managing youth arts initiatives directly and supporting youth organisations/ schools and community groups to deliver high standard youth arts programming.
•Participated in and encouraged collaboration and partnership across organisations for the development of youth arts initiatives.
•Initiated new partnerships with appropriate individuals and organisations, further developing youth arts practice locally.
•Championed the voices and leadership of young people in youth arts activities, projects, groups, and policy development.
•Promoted greater communication and sharing across the youth arts sector both within and outside of the County.
•Promoted the use of various civic venues, including community centres and libraries, as youth arts facilities.
•Promoted the sustainability of youth arts initiatives through the development of training programmes, assistance with documentation and evaluation of projects and support groups in gaining funding from national and regional bodies.



In addition, the Arts Office has striven to:
•Encourage and action inclusive youth arts activities.
•Build young audiences for arts through school and youth service-based projects and professional development initiatives for teachers and youth workers.
•Support the establishment of a new youth dance company ‘Animotion’, based in RuaRed, South Dublin Arts Centre.
•Support the growth of the Arts Office’s Music Education Service to include service delivery outside of mainstream 2nd level education.
•Promote the sustainability of projects initiated through partnership working and relevant training initiatives.


NOISE South Dublin – a web-based youth arts community.

A major feature of the Youth Arts programme at South Dublin County is the interactive, youth-member based NOISE South Dublin website, providing young people within the County opportunities to present new work, connect with their peers, and engage in arts practice linked with new media and technology through taking part in on-line projects. NOISE South Dublin is found at www.noisesouthdublin.com

NOISE South Dublin has run a number of festivals in ‘real time’ which have also had an on-line presence through the website. These festivals provide young people with direct interaction with industry professionals, through opportunities for feedback on work created, opportunities to learn about career pathways, and the chance to hear from professionals working in the fields of music, dance and film.
•NOISE Flics Youth Film Festival
•NOISEmoves Youth Dance Festival
•NOISE Battle of the Bands

It also offers an opportunity to gain feedback from professionals in the field through the NOISE South Dublin artist in residence scheme and offers a stimulating and diverse programme of youth-related, youth-created, arts work to inspire, encourage and challenge the young members of the site. These residencies take place both on and off line with area school groups and youth services and often include opportunities for young people to publicly exhibit work outside of the virtual world.

NOISE South Dublin delivers on a number of priorities of the County’s youth arts policy:

•Inform and communicate with young people and others about current youth arts opportunities.
•Provide access to appropriate exhibition, performance and showcasing opportunities.
•Advocate for top quality, youth-lead, arts initiatives.



Arising from a series of Youth Focus Groups held in July 2010, attended by 16 young artists and young participants in diverse youth arts activities; music, performing arts, visual art and film – a number of key priorities were identified for the future of Youth Arts in South Dublin County. These are summarised below. If you would like to comment and/or contribute to the debate please do so on this blogsite.

South Dublin Arts Consultation - Registration of Interests – Youth Arts
There were 16 participants in total who attended three youth focus group meetings, the first was dealing with Performing arts, the second with music and the third with film.

Breakdown of participant information:• 4 female / 12 male.
•7 age 15 or less/ 9 age 16 or more. Average age 16 yrs: oldest 20, youngest 13.
•All participants are resident in SDCC area.
•14 have an email address. All said they use the internet, but some more often than others.
•2 are members of NOISE South Dublin youth arts website.
•8 said they had taken part in an activity organised by or associated with SDCC Arts Office.

The organisers of the activities are identified as:
•Local youth club,
•School,
•Home,
•local dance class,
•Encore,
•Music teachers,
•NOISE,
•TYFM,
•Gig organisers,
•Irish Association of Youth Orchestras,
•Dancing School,
•Youth Art Co-ordinator or the mentor of that project,
•Hobbies and personal interest
•Civic Theatre (Tenderfoot),
•Me and my friends,
•Rua Red,
•TCA
•TYS


Previous and current arts activities undertaken by participants:
Music 9 Songwriting 5 Visual Art 4
Dance 4 Choreography 3 Photography 3
Drama 9 Writing 4 Sculpture 0 Other performance 2
Filmmaking 10 Painting 0 Art Project participant 1
Audience member 6 Multi-media/digital arts 3
Other: please describe 0

•Film-making, Music and Drama are the most common activities.
•Being an audience member and song-writing are the next most popular, with Dance, Visual Art and Writing following closely.
•Choreography, Photography, Digital Arts have a specialised following.

Activities the participants hope to explore in the future:
Music 13 Songwriting 7 Visual Art 5
Dance 3 Choreography 3 Photography 8
Drama 9 Writing 9 Sculpture 1 Other performance 1Filmmaking 10 Painting 1 Art Project participant 0
Audience member 2 Multi-media/digital arts 3
Other: please describe Animation, Animation and sketching, Musical Theatre

•Within this group of participants, Music is certainly the most popular area for future exploration, followed on by Film-making, Writing and Drama. Photography is next, followed closely by Songwriting and Visual Art.
•Dance, Choreography and Digital Media offer equal interest, followed on by being an audience member, Sculpture, Painting and other types of performance.
•Other areas of interest not on the list were Animation, Sketching and Musical Theatre.

When asked to name issues which affect their participation in arts activities:
• Enjoyment
• Novelty
• Cost
• Access to practice space
• Time/ availability
• Access to Information
• Lack of organization eg classical music for young people.
• Access to equipment and expertise
• More freedom within group
• Facilities
• Funds


Priorities for a future focus in Youth Arts:
Participants were offered a set of multiple choice themes and asked to rank the ‘Main themes’ 1-5 in order of importance. Under each main theme there is set of ‘examples’ which were also ranked in order of importance. Listed in order of the participant’s priorities:

1. Access to high quality arts experiences with professional artists.
•Opportunity to collaborate with professional artists on projects eg film, dance, music, digital media
•Work experience in the arts
•Sharing skills by teaching other young people

2. Opportunities for artistic development for young artists of all disciplines.
•Exhibiting/showcasing your own work
•Improving skills through classes and workshops & Entering competitions
•Master classes with professional artists, learning about their work and how they may have started out

3. Development of local arts clubs/workspaces appropriate to young people in the county.
•Youth Arts groups such as dance, film and music, in your area.
•Arts & cultural centres in your area.

4. Communication / regular information about arts events across the county.
•A website
•A printed newsletter

5. Opportunities to share ideas from different artforms, different communities and different cultural backgrounds.
•Exploring different cultures eg studying reggae music, or fashion from different countries or cultures.
•Taking part in multi-disciplinary projects eg dance & film
•Meeting and collaborating with other groups eg IWA and Foroige joint project


When asked if they had any questions about taking part in this Public Consultation process, only two responded:
•How much will the new activities cost?
•Will taking part in this actually have any effect on independent film makers like myself?