by Author LewishamMusic

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Musical Identity & Youth Voice

Join professional youth worker and youth voice specialist Jacob Sakil as he shares some of his personal reflections as a facilitator on our Amplifying Voices programme. Jacob is a former Young Mayor of Lewisham, youth worker and the youngest member of the National Youth Justice Board

Lewisham Music was the lead organisation in an 18 month organisational development programme, exploring EDI and particularly the role that youth voice plays in our EDI journey

Alongside Jacob we worked with two partner Music Education Hubs 'Royal Greenwich Music Service' and 'Lambeth Music Service'.  We hope that some of the reflections shared through this video will resonate and/or support your journey around EDI.

Jacob shared some things for us all to consider and particularly for those of us embedding youth voice in our organisation. Some things to consider....

  • When setting out your objectives around your youth voice activity, think carefully about i) what are the young people involved gaining from their participation? alongside ii) What does your organisation want to discover/explore?
  • When facilitating safe spaces for young people, share something of your own identity and/or background. This affects how you 'show up' in your workshops. If we want young people to be open and authentic, the facilitator also needs to model this.
  • Find fun and accessible activities that allow young people to find easy points of connection to broader and deeper discussions. For example I used a 'quick fire Guess the artist & genre' activity. This led onto discussions around young people's favourite genres and how their culture, lived experience, identity and locality have shaped these choices.
  • Involve young people in the 'development phase' of your youth voice activity. Too often organisations are making the decisions about the environment and framework for youth voice. Allow young people to co-produce and to lead the journey.
  • Think about the resources you can bring - Bring food, play music and think about how young people can and feel comfortable to interact in your workshops.  
  • It's OK to make mistakes and share this message with the young people working alongside you and your organisation

As Jacob mentioned, all of the team at Lewisham Music are happy to share our experiences through our youth voice journey. We have recently recruited two Young Producers to lead the next stage of this programme. They will be co-producing activity with our team and we can't wait to see their ideas come to life.