Seats at the Table: IAYO Youth Sub-Committee 2024
Below, Rachel Dunne Lambe, IAYO’s Youth Participation Officer discusses the progress of the IAYO Youth Sub-Committee.
In February, the IAYO Youth Sub-Committee met on Zoom for our first meeting of the year. At this meeting, the committee agreed on the terms of reference for the group and also started talking about our plan for the year.
We have talked about the ideas that were shared at the IAYO AGM in October. One of those ideas was about how to encourage young people, particularly their peers who don’t play in an orchestra, to attend orchestral concerts. We then looked at the Arts Council’s #ShowUP campaign. This social media campaign is aimed at increasing the attendance of 18-24 years olds at arts and creative events. As this is a theme that is similar to ours, we thought it would be interesting to see if we could do something to promote attending orchestral concerts.
We are also working on a European Youth Foundation Pilot Activity grant application. In short, this grant would allow us to run in-person workshops with other IAYO young musicians.These workshops could help us to develop ways for more young people to have a say in the activities of IAYO and to look at the challenges and limitations of involving young people in decision-making. IAYO would like young musicians and staff to work together to find meaningful and practical opportunities to explore these ideas. This is our sub-committee’s first time doing a grant application, it would be brilliant to be able to meet more young musicians and to see our work put into action. We really want to make sure that people can take part without having to worry about the cost, especially when there is travel involved.
We currently have seven members on our committee and are looking for other young musicians to join us. Half of 18-29 year-olds have low mental well-being according to a new report by the National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI). In response, the NYCI are calling on the government to establish a Cabinet Sub-Committee on young people. The report recommends fostering cultural and community engagement from young people, infrastructure investments in youth work and boosting funding for cultural amenities. You can access the full report at www.youth.ie. We believe that young people joining the IAYO Sub-Committee will be a positive step towards fostering greater cultural engagement. Below is a short overview of the committee.
What is the IAYO Youth Sub-Committee?
The Youth Sub-Committee is an official sub-committee appointed by the IAYO board and as such has a direct link to the board. It is made up of young people aged 16-24. The Youth Sub-Committee’s specific job is to make sure that younger people’s views, experiences and opinions are listened to and acted on appropriately. They are supported by a youth worker, board members and IAYO staff to do this. There will be an IAYO board member attending the committee meetings,
this board member can be a younger person themselves. IAYO will support young committee members, 18 years and over, to put themselves forward for board positions if it is of interest to them. It is the job of the board member to act as a link between the younger people and the IAYO board. Young members also get the chance to meet with other board members and staff throughout the year.
What does the Sub-Committee do?
The Youth Sub-Committee have a chance to share their views, opinions and experiences with each other, the IAYO staff and board and the wider community. They can also gather and represent the views, opinions and experiences of other young people in youth orchestras. The committee work together to develop initiatives to improve aspects of young musicians’ lives and to provide feedback and suggestions to the decision-makers within IAYO. The main role of the committee is to help make sure that young people’s views are a part of IAYO’s decision-making.
How do the Sub-Committee Work Together?
The sub-committee meet virtually at least once a month on Zoom. They will, however, try to meet in-person during the year and IAYO will support young people to access these in-person sessions. There are some small tasks and activities that need to be done between meetings to make sure the work gets done! Over the coming months the Sub-Committee will be making use of various tools to help the collaborative work of the group. The Sub-Committee will also explore the potential use of Padlets, Jamboards, shared documents and WhatsApp. All of the activities are voluntary, but it is important that young people want to take part as it is a team effort. The Sub-Committee themselves decide what works best for them to move forward with their activities. At times they will work with the board on a task and at other times they will work on their own area of interest. At all times, there is a connection between the committee members and the decision makers within IAYO.
How can Young People get Involved?
Potential members should be aged 16-24 years of age, have played with a youth orchestra or attended an IAYO course or festival at any stage and have an interest in exploring young people’s roles in decision-making. We want to have as wide a range of experiences as possible represented. For that reason, we look at three main areas when looking at member applications.
- Location: We want to make sure that as many areas in Ireland as possible are represented. Our current members represent Carlow, Cork, Dublin and Galway. We would love to see some members from other areas too, especially people from rural areas who might usually not get the chance to attend events because of distance.
- Age & Gender: We would like to make sure we have as diverse a range of ages and genders as possible.
- Playing Experience: We want to make sure we have a range of experiences represented. We would like there to be a mix of different playing standards and instruments, people who have attended courses and those that have not. There is no minimum playing standard required and those who no longer play with a youth orchestra are also welcome to join.
Young people interested in joining the youth committee or who would like to find out more about it can contact Rachel at rachel@iayo.ie or 089 488 2626.