Innovation in the arts for young people

As part of the Discover Young Hackney '09 Close Event, 'What is the future of Youth Arts?', we posed 3 questions to our panel of key players in the Hackney Youth Arts Scene.

Here's a snapshot of what emerged from the first question:

How can we encourage innovation in the arts for young people? And, in turn, how can young people develop entrepreneurial behaviour?

Panel member and cultural ambassador Mekel Edwards felt that ‘the only way that we can grow as young people and as a community is with more projects like Discover Young Hackney’. He added: “For young people to advance their skills in an entrepreneurial way we need more projects that involve youth and involve learning skills. I myself have been involved in drama and arts for many years all over Hackney and I feel that more projects where kids can experiment, learn new skills, grow and come up with ideas can go a very long way. And, in Hackney, we’ve got one of the best boroughs, if not the best borough, to do that.”

He continued, “We need more links with professionals in industry, who come and help us, Kat B, for example, I’ve worked with him before and have found him an inspiration. People will come back and help us expand in an entrepreneurial way.”

Fellow panel member Gabin Sinclair from Rising Tide said: “young people generally gravitate to whatever they enjoy, and when they decide to turn it into a career they need somewhere to turn. All of these organisations here tonight are that place. Discover Young Hackney is a way we can all advertise our wares to young people, so when that light flickers on for a young person and they think ‘I really want to dance’, they know where to go.”
“As organisations, we need to be the uncles, the aunts, the big brothers who are able to say ‘you know what, this is how you do it, these are the skills you need to learn, these are the places you can go and develop those skills’, and just be there working together. We need to work together and continue to make Hackney the cultural place that it is.”


Discover Young Hackney '09 Awards

Each question complimented an awards ceremony devised, managed and delivered by the DYH / Eastside Educational Trust Cultural Ambassadors. The award category for this question was 'Most Innovative Workshop' and the winners were InIVA (Institute of International Visual Arts).