Sound Connections has been experimenting with Youth Voice & Participation since 2008. We were inspired by research produced by the Participation Works consortium, partnership founded to further understanding and practice of youth voice, particularly across the voluntary youth sector. We were especially influenced by the milestone report, Building a Culture of Participation (Kirby et al., 2003) the findings of which we began to test and implement in our youth voice and leadership programme, Wired for Music.
Over the years, we’ve learnt about the profound impact a youth voice approach can have on practice, people, planning and policies. Quite simply, we are not the same organisation we were ten years ago. Today, young people are integral to how Sound Connections operates: they shape our programmes, produce their own events, advise us on funding decisions and sit on our board. They also play a key role in our work advocating for youth voice practice across the creative and cultural sector, especially the consultancy we provide to other organisations looking to learn more about youth voice and embed it in their programmes and strategies. It has been an eye-opening and transformational journey, and one that we want to share as widely as possible.
And that’s why we’ve created this handbook. As far as we know, to date, no-one has attempted to produce a guide to youth voice for the creative and cultural sector. This handbook is for you if you or your organisation work creatively with young people. You might work in arts, culture or heritage, in a youth work or educational setting, or in another sector where creative engagement is enhancing the lives of young people. We are delighted to launch the Youth Voice & Participation Handbook and we hope that you will find it informative, intriguing and inspiring.
