Our first Kids’ Own Youth Advisory Group session has taken place!  A total of twenty children and young people came together with Mary Branley and Sarah O’Keefe to engage in conversations about young people’s participation in the arts and how Kids’ Own can ensure that all children and young people are included in our work. This group will also advise Kids’ Own on the development of a new Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion policy for the organisation.

Mary Branley said of the day “We were delighted to welcome twenty children and young people to our first Youth Advisory Group meet up in the Northside on 24th of June. Our consultation with this group is to focus on how we include all children and young people in our many arts projects and publications. We consider that children and young people are the experts we need to engage with, to enable us to reach more children in every area of our diverse and intercultural society. In session 1 we looked at a few Kids’ Own books, then got right into each participant making their own 8 page fold book, step by step. The idea being that we explore our process and methods by doing as well as sharing and listening. I, as writer, also explained how I help children and young people, who are reluctant to physically write,  communicate their ideas into text, by recording stories or as a scribe, handwriting or speed typing as they talk.

We also heard from Sarah O’Keefe “It was wonderful to be a part of our first group creative session, lots of fun and laughs! We spent some time getting to know each other and finding out interests, we also enjoyed looking through Kids’ Own books. Then, feeling inspired, we made our very own eight-page fold books. Beautiful colours, illustrations, and creative story ideas were shared. From watermelon puppies and mushrooms to droids, brain powers, and poems, one can only imagine what creative ideas will pop up for our next time together!”

We’re looking forward to session two which will feature Vanya Lambrecht Ward, a long time associate artist with Kids Own to explore how we create the illustrations for our books.  Keep your eyes peeled for updates.

You can read more about our call out for the Youth Advisory Group here.