Youth Work

We are delighted to announce that IAYO has received funding from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration, and Youth through the Youth Services Grant Scheme to expand our work in promoting the youth voice and leadership in IAYO and youth orchestras around Ireland.

We will have two staff working on the programme in 2025 to deliver a programme that will include the youth subcommittee of the board, young board members, formalisation of the stage and backstage management by young people at the Festival of Youth Orchestras, mentoring and leadership programmes in our ensembles, outreach to young musicians in other genres, a national conference for young orchestral musicians, and training for our core and artistic staff and board and for member orchestras on best practice and youth-work approaches to working with young musicians.

The expanded programme of work will also allow us to support a group of young people to create a social media campaign promoting participation in youth orchestras and ensembles. This was an area of development that was indicated as relevant through our engagement with younger members.

IAYO Youth Work Plan 2024-2025:

This plan aims to consolidate work-to-date on building a foundational youth work approach into the work of IAYO and leading our members in incorporating this foundation also.

This plan draws substantially on our draft Equality, Diversity and Inclusion plan which largely focuses on the wellbeing, representation and social and personal development of the young people with whom we work directly and those with whom our members work directly.

The full realisation of the outcomes of this plan may take some years and it will likely change and develop as we go.

Build the Foundation of Youth Work in our Activities:           

  • Make the social, personal and artistic development of young people the foundation of our work.
  • Involve young people in the ongoing review processes for all our activities.
  • Involve our Youth Participation Officers(s) in the ongoing review processes for all our activities.
  • Provide opportunities for the young people in our activities to influence those activities through their feedback forms, and online and in-person consultation.
  • Provide training for young people appropriate to their roles.
  • Investigate NYCI’s Skills Summary as a process for formally recognising young people’s contributions and personal development.
  • Evaluating all our processes to ensure they are maximally youth-centred and inclusive.
  • Focus on creating welcoming spaces where everyone can thrive.
  • Explore the issues of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion within our courses and support our members to do the same.
  • Give young people the opportunity to lead in our activities and our organisation.
  • Encourage teamwork amongst young people outside of rehearsal time.
  • Democratise the artistic process where this is appropriate and wanted by young participants.
  • If appropriate, extend the peer-led model of Esker Festival Orchestra to younger age groups.
  • Provide training and leadership to our board, core staff, welfare staff and tutors in building a youth-centred organisation.
  • Integrate our youth work staff into the welfare staff on our activities.

Leading our Member Organisations:

  • Model and present best practice in the youth work approach to our members.
  • Provide training and other development opportunities to our members and to the young people who play in their orchestras.

Advocacy:

  • Promote the benefits of music participation and orchestra and ensemble participation for young people.
  • Support young musicians in advocating for the right to access cultural participation for themselves and for all young people in Ireland.
  • Invite public dignitaries and senior educators to attend our activities and performances and advocate to them on the benefits and needs of music education while they are with us.
  • Support any national campaign that is aligned with the rights of young people to access to participation in music.
  • Amplify existing examples of best practice for working with marginalised young people among our membership.

Young Board Members:

  • Recruit new young people to the board of IAYO.
  • Allow potential young board members to observe board meetings and take part in board training before taking up positions.
  • Provide support mechanisms and training opportunities for young board members through our Youth Participation Officer, mentoring board members, the Youth Subcommittee, and other staff and with training opportunities.
  • Arrange board meetings to maximise the ability of young board members to take part.
  • Provide for the costs of travel, meals, accommodation if necessary and other resources necessary to take part and contribute.
  • Provide feedback mechanisms for young board members and review their participation regularly.
  • Be ambitious with and for the young board members but do not overburden them.
  • Five board meetings per year including two in-person and three online. One in-person board review and in-person or online AGM. A strong connection to, and potentially ongoing membership of, the Youth Subcommittee. Attendance at networking events and youth / music conferences representing IAYO.

Youth Subcommittee:

  • Recruit to increase the numbers on the Youth Subcommittee to 10 young people.
  • Complete the Youth Voice Charter, Young Board Member Policy and Youth Subcommittee Handbook.
  • Facilitate the Subcommittee in setting its own direction and receiving appropriate training and development opportunities.
  • Focus on bringing in harder-to-reach young people.
  • Aim to have the Subcommittee nationally representative and include representation from Northern Ireland.
  • Provide for the costs of travel, meals, accommodation if necessary and other resources necessary to take part and contribute.
  • Provide feedback mechanisms for the Youth Subcommittee and review its progress regularly.
  • Be ambitious with and for the young people on the Youth Subcommittee but do not overburden them.
  • Three in-person meetings per year, preferably connected to attendance at IAYO events and activities. Five or more online meetings per year. Potential for working groups and taking part in the IAYO activity review process.

 Young Mentors:

  • Pilot Young Mentorship Programme with Irish Youth Wind Ensemble.
  • Provide pre-course training online and in person.
  • Train and facilitate older participants (22 to 25 years) in leading extra-musical activities and the social and personal participation of younger members on the course(s): organising activities, supporting players, representation to artistic and welfare staff, etc.
  • Train and facilitate older participants in contributing to the musical organisation of the course(s): taking on roles within the section and the band – tuning up, dividing parts, etc.

 Young Managers (at the Festival):

  • Formalise the leadership programme of young volunteers and staff at the Festival of Youth Orchestras: young people join as general volunteers, progressing over a number of years to become either Backstage Manager or Stage Manager, supported by the most recent holders of either post and IAYO staff.
  • Increase the amount of preparation and engagement with IAYO staff that young leaders receive.
  • Investigate the potential for earlier and more extensive involvement of young people in organising the festival.
  • Particularly, provide travel expenses, meals and accommodation for young volunteers from outside Dublin to participate in the programme. This has been identified as a geographical inequality for a number of years.

Annual Youth Orchestra Conference:

  • Annual youth consultation / event with younger members from across Ireland.
  • Up to ten young people plus accompanying adults from a range of youth orchestras around Ireland.
  • Up to a total of sixty young people.
  • Conference programme set by the Youth Subcommittee in collaboration with IAYO staff, young board members and the board.
    • Tell us what they think youth orchestras in Ireland should be.
    • Democracy and leadership in youth orchestra- and ensemble-music making.
    • Access to board members and staff.
  • Round table discussions, open space, World Café methods.
  • Impromptu musical activities for team building.
  • Opportunity for Youth Subcommittee to lead in the organisation of the conference within their resource and capabilities.
  • Outcomes and recommendations that become part of our future programming and activities.

Youth Work Support on Our Courses and Activities:

  • Youth Participation Officer(s) support our welfare and artistic staff on our courses and activities.

Visibility of Young People in Our News, Publicity and Promotions:

  • Young people see themselves represented in our work and represent themselves in our work.
  • Increase the visibility and representation of the young people who participate in and benefit from our activities across all our news and promotional channels.
  • Represent the diversity of young people who participate in and benefit from our activities and from activities throughout the youth orchestra community.
  • Support young people in representing themselves, mentoring them and supporting them to develop skills that they need to represent themselves well.
  • Amplify events and activities of our members that have intersectional themes, i.e. minorities and music, disability and music.
  • Amplify accessible and sustainable models of participation for disadvantaged young people in Ireland and internationally.