South West London’s 14-to-25-year-olds are today being encouraged to apply to join the Barbican’s first Youth Panel and help shape one of the world’s leading international arts centres along with other young Londoners.
 
Members of the Barbican Youth Panel will meet once a month for a year to share their views on the arts programming and ethos of the organisation, working with departments ranging from Music and Theatre, to Marketing and Human Resources.

They will also have the opportunity to get involved with major Barbican shows including art exhibition Basquiat: Boom for Real! opening in September, as well as gaining experience of teamwork, project management and leadership. There will be mentoring opportunities available, free tickets to some Barbican events, and travel expenses within London will be provided.
 
The Barbican Centre is introducing the Youth Panel to further embed Youth Voice and Participation across the organisation, and there are fifteen places available.
 
Sir Nicholas Kenyon, Managing Director, Barbican, said: “We are delighted to be opening applications for our first Youth Panel and would encourage young people from South West London to apply. We are keen to receive applications from a wide range of young people and it doesn’t matter if you haven’t been to the Barbican before. What’s more important is that you are interested in arts and culture and enthusiastic about making a difference.
 
With almost 4,000 events programmed every year including contemporary music gigs, international theatre and dance, major art, design and photography exhibitions, classical music concerts, a huge range of new release films and curated film seasons, as well as talks, spoken word and more, there will be plenty for our Barbican Youth Panel members to get their teeth stuck into throughout the 12-month programme.”
 
The Barbican Youth Panel builds upon the Barbican’s existing work with young people through Barbican Guildhall Creative Learning, and is being supported by Sound Connections who, based upon their experience of hosting the Wired4Music network for young people to share their skills and expertise with other organisations via their research, advocacy and consultancy work. 
 
Jennifer Raven, Programme Manager, Sound Connections, said: “We are delighted to be working with the Barbican to develop the Youth Panel. What makes it particularly exciting is the staff’s commitment to embedding the principles of Youth Voice and Participation across the culture and mind-set of the organisation.” 
 
Information on how to apply can be found here: 
https://www.barbican.org.uk/education/young-people/youth-panel
 
There is a written application form, but applicants are welcome to submit a video application instead. The deadline is Sunday 18 June 2017 at 5pm and applicants will be told whether they have been successful by 30 June 2017. 
 
Any questions/access requirements please contact creative.learningteam@barbican.org.uk

Article supplied by Jess Hookway