Raise Your Voice
Raise Your Voice is a placemaking campaign led by young people as part of a partnership between Swansea MAD, Second Nature and Treharris Boys & Girls Club to mark the extension of the vote to 16 year olds in local council elections.
The workshops took place before the council elections in May 2022. It aimed to increase youth political participation by demystifying the role of local democracy. Young people critically engaged and defined pressing local issues, strategised their demand and collective voice and made campaign material to raise issues they care about to councillors.
The first session centred on democratic discourse. Young people collaboratively drew and annotated a large scale map of their experience and perception of the local area. The map was used as a starting point to discuss various issues that young people care about locally.
The following session invited participants to debate what issue was a priority and to come up with solutions. Young people designed outdoor furniture, material changes to improve the park and ways to utilise brownfield and derelict spaces. The session ended with a vote on which issue and idea was most pressing.
The final session saw young people create videos, slogan posters and letters/emails/social media posts to prospective Treharris Ward councillors with the aim of raising the issue on the political agenda and ensuring the elected candidate puts into effect the feasible changes imagined by the young people.
