Specific events for young people at the Festival
General good practice and learning points Good practice Make sure all young people are met and greeted by someone friendly, particularly young people coming alone. It’s essential to have a ‘house manager’ unconnected with the event to look after the building and any young people ‘chilling’ outside events and bring back those wandering. All the essentials of good youth work practice are needed: treating young people with respect; supporting and encouraging them and taking measures to keep them safe and making sure the younger ones are picked up by parents at the end. It’s important to keep the afternoon to time so that everything doesn’t over run and squeeze out the slam session at the end. Find an experienced older young person who can run the slam.
Printed Lies perfoming at a Club Night © David Collins
Learning points The sign up session at the start is vital – this is where young people decide which two workshops to do – have the workshop leaders around and able to explain what a great workshop they are going to run. Make sure everyone staffing the sign up session knows what each workshop involves and can encourage people to try them. It’s important to go into schools and contact young writers groups to let them know how good the afternoon will be. Make sure that any lone adults turning up to the event really are the parents of youngsters who are participating as they say they are.
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