Casgleb

English Cymraeg

sPeak is a group for young people aged 16-25 living across South East Wales. It originally grew from a ‘Manifesto’ workshop with artist Bella Kerr where we asked young people, artists, volunteers etc. to help us define our values through a collaborative process. We developed sPeak, made up of 15 engaged members, to become a youth advisory group for the organisation.

We understood that with a focus on running projects with this age group, we had a responsibility to provide young people with further opportunities as well as adequate representation, and a platform to share their voices.

sPeak had been developing organically, through quarterly meet ups at The Old School. Up until March 2020, when the first lockdown was introduced, the group had started to think about a programme of public events around sustainable living - from mending clothes, planting and a community feast.

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we paused the programme plans and instead moved to a fortnightly series of workshops with professional artists, curators, writers, and thinkers as a way to stay connected with one and another and make sense of the ever-changing situation we all found ourselves in.

As 2022 gets underway, we are taking this moment to plan our next steps with the group. Original members of sPeak have now moved onto new places, jobs and education, and the group’s activity is paused whilst we recruit a new membership interested in social change and Welsh futures, that will meet in Peak’s newest spaces at Platfform 2, Gorsaf Drenau’r Fenni.  We are busy planning our sPeak programme for Platfform 2 for 2022 and feel very excited about the ways young people will occupy this space, and share their thinking and work with other young people and audiences on the train line.

Check back for more information about how our plans develop. To find out more information and how you might be involved, please contact info@peak.cymru