The event itself was a huge success the young volunteers welcomed all their visitors to the museum, running different activity stations. They spoke confidently about recycling creating a fun and informative game called basket bottle, they challenged visitors about sewers and how things like the Whitechapel Fatberg were created and they inspired creativity through discussion, spoken-word sessions, photography workshops and LED-badge making.
Young people from across London discussed what they wanted London to be like in the future. Showcasing how it will become more diverse, a place of safety where you can be yourself anywhere, a city without homelessness, a city that never sleeps, a city with cleaner air.
Throughout the planning process it became clear that the young volunteers arranging the event needed a creative output so they could discuss what they thought the future of London might be like before the event. To give them this opportunity and inspire them further we arranged for them to work with London busker and singer/songwriter Charlotte Campbell to co-write a song to be performed on the evening celebrating London as it is now and what it might be like in the future. Many of the young volunteers expressed that this was their favourite part of the project and the performance of the song was their most memorable part of the evening.
Throughout the project the young people developed a range of new skills, the most obvious being how confident they were at the end with working as a team and sharing ideas (and disagreeing!) with each other. On asking what they would remember most about the process they said the other young volunteers as they learnt to trust one another, to make jokes, to make the process fun and to make it memorable.
Concrete Hope
Written collaboratively at the Our Future City event