RESPECT project - a facilitator's view

Wheelworks is an organisation that believes young people should be seen and heard. I believe that too. Since its inception Wheelworks has demonstrated vitality and innovation and has demonstrated that it is at the leading edge of youth arts provision, ensuring that children and young people have the opportunity to tell about their world, about themselves and to share that with the rest of us.

This project has been a fantastic celebration of diversity and it is an important contribution as we seek to build a tolerant, pluralistic and inclusive society.

A PLACE TO BE A CHILD

The participants have shown themselves and shared their unique perspectives with us. They brought great fun, energy and playfulness. But there were times when I felt sad and sobered when doing this project. We are a society that struggles with conflict, struggles with defining itself and we are struggling to create something new.

Some of these young people have the ability and the talent to cut it as artists in their own right. All of them have the capacity to be creative. Wheelworks values young people as artists. This is reflected in the high quality of the final products, in this case the brochure, poster and exhibition.

PLAY AND CREATIVITY

Play, and the opportunity to experiment which creative activity brings are central to everyone's capacity to be as a child. Clearly, creativity is at the heart of our capacity to transform ourselves and the world within which we live. Creative skills are central to our capacity to change and to solve problems. The skills are transferable. I believe they are life skills that carry us for the long term.

The participants in this project are to be commended for their willingness to give in their creativity, to think for themselves to trust what they know and also for their generosity in sharing that with us.

On behalf of all of us I say, 'We see you. We hear you.'

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1. A little respect
2. Liz Calder shares a participant's view