The Young Leaders Volunteer Programme took place at Watershed every Thursday for two months, supporting sixteen young people aged 16 to 25 to plan and deliver a programme of film and media related activities for local young people and children.

Workshop organised by the young leaders

The aim of the programme was to build skills for future training or employment in the cultural creative industries. Working with media industry professionals and Watershed staff, the volunteers dreamed and schemed their programme ideas around subjects they are interested in such as film scoring, animation, and story development.

Young leaders presentation

The energetic team came up with some great ideas for the Easter break, delivering a set of workshops both for the public and schools, plus they also curated and created online content for DShed and The Cube’s Haiti Kids Kino Project. In addition the Young Leaders were given various opportunities to get involved in and support a range of festivals such as Slapstick Festival and regular Watershed programme strands Cineformation and Decalogue, as well as projects such as the Gruntvig Eighteen Summers digital storytelling workshop. The Young Leaders were also commissioned by the Working Together for Positive Change initiative to produce a five minute film of a grass-roots celebration of social inclusion at Bristol Cathedral, as part of the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, providing the initiative with a valuable piece of advocacy.

The four films presented here show some of the outcomes of the workshops that the Young Leaders originated and delivered.

One of the Young Leaders, Hal said:

“It's been brilliant, I've already learned a lot and it's been great hearing other people's ideas and seeing them slowly taking shape. I expected it to be interesting, but it's been much more inspiring than I could have hoped for. I signed up for it purely because it was at Watershed and I've always loved visiting the cinema, but I had no idea it would provide us with so much opportunity for ideas and creativity.”

 

Another team member added:

“My own interest in media was first sparked by attending workshops at the Engine Room, Bridgwater and it feels good to have come full circle and be giving something back.“

 

All the volunteers are being supported to apply their volunteer experience to a Young Bristol 2 volunteer accreditation. The Young Leaders Project was made possible through the v Project Young Volunteer Grants Scheme which provides funding for activities or projects that help deliver NEW volunteering opportunities for young people aged 16-25, in England. Global Radio collaborated with v, the Youth Volunteering Charity on this Grants Scheme.

Ended in April 2010

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