Youth Voice Consultation at IAYO AGM
IAYO are inviting members attending this year’s AGM on Sunday, 1 October 2023 to bring one or two youth delegates with them on the day. These youth delegates must be aged between 15 and 24 years of age and can be either current or past members of the youth orchestra. There is no minimum playing standard required for participation in this consultation. We are looking for young people who would perhaps not always get an opportunity to take part in such events. Young people who are current or past members of youth orchestras/ensembles and/or who have participated in any IAYO courses can apply.
Pre-registration of young delegates is essential, as spaces are limited and not guaranteed. Places are limited and preference will be given to those who apply before Thursday, 21 September.
How can young people register?
Register here: www.iayo.ie/youthvoice2023
Young people under 18 must fill in the form with a parent/guardian.
Young people aged 18 to 24 years of age can skip the parent/guardian sections.
For more information or if you have any questions, please contact Rachel at rachel@IAYO.ie or 089 4882626.
All delegates will take part in a tour of the Royal Irish Academy of Music’s new building. As the AGM takes place, the younger delegates will partake in a separate youth voice consultation facilitated by Youth Participation Officer, Rachel Dunne-Lambe and other members of the Youth Participation Working Group. The consultation has been developed following the Lundy Model of Youth Participation. This model, from Professor Laura Lundy, Queens University, is the model upon which the National Framework for Children and Young People’s Participation in Decision-Making is based. More information on the model and the framework, including practice examples can be found here.
The main purpose of this consultation is to capture the views and experiences of young people participating in youth orchestras in Ireland. The young people will be invited to share what they see working well for them in the orchestras, courses, and festivals. They will also be provided the opportunity to share what they might see as challenges to their full participation. We will be looking for the young people to tell us, IAYO, what we need to do to ensure that their voices and views are heard when we make decisions that affect them.
This in-person consultation forms part of a wider consultation with young people in orchestras, summer courses, and festivals. Using the information provided by the young people, IAYO will create a Charter of Youth Participation.
The IAYO Charter of Youth Participation will be a document, freely available to all, which outlines the values and principles needed by us to ensure that young musicians’ views, opinions, and experiences directly inform the work of the IAYO board and staff. The charter may also acknowledge the benefits of and challenges to placing youth voice at the centre of what we do. It is crucial that young people are involved in the creation of this charter.
Shortly, IAYO will also be offering opportunities for interested young people, aged 16-24 years of age, to get involved with our youth participation project. We will provide more details on this over the coming months.
We would also like to offer the opportunity to member orchestras to share with us how they involve young people in decision-making in their settings, no matter how small a piece, each time we give space to a young person’s voice, there are benefits for both the young person and the wider orchestra. We have seen great examples of this practice across the membership network and we would like to celebrate this.
