The [intransit] Producers are 5 under 25s working together for a specific aim – they are producing and programming their very own WHY? Festival. The WHY? Festival stands for What’s Happening for the Young? And is a festival that was launched in 2014 by the Southbank Centre. The festival itself is always produced by young people’s thoughts and voices as well as always being based around the UN Conventions for the rights of the child.

Last week, in our first session together, we spoke a lot about freedom of speech and the power of presence and the voice. We spoke about empowering other young people to know that they (and we) can have agency, that we can choose who we are and that we can create change.

We believe the WHY? Festival is important because it is lead by the youth voice. The festival is untainted by what adults think young people want as it is decided and programmed by young people.

In our first session we laid down some aims, objectives and some ground rules and one of our main rules as a group is to make sure that we’re not an echo chamber. Collectively, we are passionate about giving a platform for all voices – particularly those who are not usually listened to. Another rule is to set aside any biases we may have and to continually engage with other young people so it’s not just what 5 young people want but it’s what 100 young people want. Or even more!

We spoke about choice. We spoke about convenience. We spoke about capitalism vs freedom / our rights. We spoke about safety vs value of money and we spoke about digital / online life & stories vs real life & truth.

A session filled with a lot of food for thought and a lot of ideas!
Roll on the next 6 months with the [intransit] Producers!

Thanks for reading,

Molly Scarborough. Youth Programme Co-ordinator. Young Person. Facilitator.