Young people in Cork can drive global change

IF every person, every household, every community and every city did its bit to alter habits, climate change targets for Ireland may be attainable.

Global emissions targets and large-scale change often seem too far out of reach for most of the population and so making small changes locally can lead to big wins nationally and globally when it comes to altering habits to protect the future of our planet.

These were some of the messages to emerge from the second ever Seó Youth Festival organised by the Youthwork Services section of Cork Education and Training Board (Cork ETB) held at the Marina Market.

With ‘Climate and Creativity’ as a core theme, and funded in part by the Erasmus+ Programme, the youth festival saw over 500 young people and their youthworkers using the broad spectrum of Creative Arts to shine a light on prevailing issues for Ireland and the EU.

Young participants from staffed and volunteer-led projects and services engaged in an event that included the full breadth of Creative Arts including music and song, dance, youth theatre, film-making, sport and junk couture fashion shows.

Young designers from Mitchelstown and Guarranbraher challenged the fast fashion nature of society by recycling old clothes and turning them into breathtaking new outfits. 

The new creations were presented by designers and young models in a superb fashion show catwalk that would not have been out of place in Paris or Milan.

Short films were shown about the impacts of littering and pollution, while drama pieces were created and presented on similar themes.

Several groups from the city and county – including those led by CDYS, Foroige, YMCA and the Kabin - performed their own music compositions on the main stage, entertaining the usual visitors to the Marina Market.

In all, over 400 young people performed or exhibited on the day which was described by participants and attendees alike as ‘empowering…hugely enjoyable…eye-opening…transformative’. For many, it represented a rare chance to perform in public in front of large crowds and for some, it was their first step onto a catwalk or stage. The social skills and confidence built up as part of this participation represented a great example of what youthwork is and does.

The original Seó festival in 2022 was put on to give young people involved in funded projects a platform to demonstrate the work they were doing largely behind closed doors over the two years of the Covid-19 restrictions. Youthwork was designated by Government at the time as an essential service, so much of the one-to-one and small groups continued in outdoor settings, but opportunities to showcase what youngsters were doing were obviously limited.

Two years on, and the demand for another such event was considerable in the youthwork sector in all corners of Cork, urban and rural, which led to second iteration of Seó, this time backed by Erasmus+ funding in addition to that provided by Cork ETB.

As part of Seó, the Cork ETB Youthwork unit also launched two strategic plans and its Annual Report for 2023. Bridging the Gap, a Youthwork Service Strategy 2024-2028 and the Local Creative Youth Partnership’s Building Connections documents were introduced by Cork ETB Further Education & Training (FET) Director John Fitzgibbons who pointed out that these publications would plot the course for the future direction of youth service support in Cork. He highlighted that continued innovation and flexibility of service providers and agents like Cork ETB would be crucial to meeting changing needs and delivering on what young people need.

Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Kieran McCarthy and Deputy County Mayor Cllr Marcia D’Alton – who jointly launched the plans - both encouraged young people to lead in their homes, schools and communities and continue to use their imaginations, energy and creativity in convincing adults to change their ways. They pointed out that local authorities were on hand to assist in these endeavours, via innovations like Biodiversity Plans and Officers, new Tree Strategies and campaigns to keep rivers and oceans free of plastics.

An engaging discussion panel, hosted by Tara Desmond of the Rebel Youth Creatives – an advisory group initiated by the co-ordinator of the Cork Local Creative Youth Partnership, Fiona Quinn – featured representatives from Concern, Creative Ireland, the ETBI and the Bee Conservation Project discussing questions on climate and environment posed by young people across Cork.

“Young people are showing themselves to be the great guardians of the environment, evidenced by their activism and work on Green Flag initiatives in the schools: the challenge is to bring that Green Flag work out beyond the school walls and into our homes and communities so we can all play a part in the changes that are needed,” suggested FET Director, John Fitzgibbons. “Older people like us need to be nagged into action and there should be no problems with young people doing that!”

Former Youth Officer with Cork ETB, Ruth Griffin – now working with Education Training Boards Ireland (ETBI) – said the Seó Festival represented the essence of youthwork in action.

“This is about young people coming together, sharing spaces and ideas and being mentored and supported by youthworkers to allow new collaborations to happen. If we invest in youthwork, great things can happen,” she said.

Watching all the performers, aged from 10-24, do their thing across the various stages at Seó, it underlined again the huge return there is by investing in young people.

Cork has 30 staffed projects, over 160 volunteer-led youth clubs and has one of the largest youth infrastructures in the country, yet there are parts of the county without services and supports despite having high youth populations (including those with new migrant communities). It was somewhat disappointing that invitations to senior ministers, local and national, were not taken up: it is vital that the new ideas and suggestions by young people are acted on and not just left as tokens on a shelf.

Providing every young person in Cork with opportunities to intersect with youthwork supports and services is an ambition of Government in its new policy, Young Ireland.

 We in Cork ETB Youthwork Services will continue to do our bit and would encourage anyone interested in investing in the future of our city and county to join us in that work.

Mick Finn is the Youthwork Services Development Officer of Cork ETB