Youth Leadership Collective (YLC), Activate Assemble Amplify (2024)

Exhibition dates: Friday 3 May – Sunday 23 June 2024

This exhibition offered a space where visitors could engage with the Youth Leadership Collective's vision for themselves and their city. Activate / Assemble / Amplify showcased portraits captured by Coventry-based artist Ayesha Jones, as well as sound pieces, pop-up performances and artworks that were part of the Creative Learning Team’s Youth and Schools projects. 

Through weekly sessions, the YLC came together to discuss their hopes, ambitions, worries, and frustrations, exploring what it means to be a young person in Coventry today. They delved into topics of creativity, activism, and future aspirations, culminating in the creation of a manifesto capturing their shared ambitions and strengths. Under the guidance of Coventry’s Poet Laureate, John Bernard, they amplified their voices through spoken word, music, and participatory arts. 

The Youth Leadership Collective were: Ava, Denzel, Ellie, Isaac, Laa’iqah, Lily, Reece, Theo, Yanai and Zeinab.

Warwick Arts Centre presented the Youth Leadership Programme in collaboration with YMCA Heart of England and Positive Youth Foundation. The programme was supported by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.