Zeitgeist Young Minds the search is still on…
Earlier this month we announced Young Minds, a competition supported by Google and hosted on YouTube to find the pioneers, change-makers and leaders of tomorrow to take their place alongside the greatest minds and innovators of today at Google’s Zeitgeist 2011 event near London on May 15th – 17th. And we can now announce that world-renowned physicist and cosmologist Professor Stephen Hawking will be one of the many high profile guest speakers.
The search is on until 21st March to find 12 exceptional, motivated and inspiring 18-24 year-olds from across EMEA*, who are making a positive impact on their world. Winners will be invited to attend Google’s annual and exclusive three-day Zeitgeist event.
Once there they will take part in a series of bespoke master classes hosted by Google and get their hands on the latest Google gadget. What’s even more exciting is that a select few will get the opportunity to address the audience at the event, where previous speakers have included Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former US President Bill Clinton, Black Eyed Peas superstar Will.I.Am and global entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson.
Philipp Schindler, Vice President of Northern & Central Europe, Google commented, “Google has always championed innovation and is proud to help young people showcase their ideas and achievements. Zeitgeist Young Minds is an incredible platform for future world-changers to meet some of the most powerful and inspiring people on the planet today.”
To be in with a chance of winning a place at Zeitgeist 2011, simply upload a video telling your story, what matters to you and how you’re making a positive impact on the world to www.zeitgeistyoungminds.com
Snowmanz of south London
CHANNEL 4 EDUCATION AND LIVITY ANNOUNCE OUTREACH ACTIVITY FOR CULTURAL OLYMPIAD PROJECT
PRESS RELEASE
Date: 10th December 2010
Six regional partners appointed around the UK to open up spaces to young people
The first wave of regional partners to deliver outreach for somewhereto have been recruited this month, tasked with connecting 16-25 year olds and space-holders across the UK as part of Olympic Legacy project somewhereto.
The partners, who are skilled in both speaking to young people and utilising spaces, make up the first six of what will become a total of 24 regional coordinators to be appointed to this project over the next two years. They are based in various regions and include Young Scot from Scotland, PLACE from Northern Ireland, Fundamental and Louisa Fearnley who are both based in London, and NE Regional Youth Work Unit and Michele Deans from North East England.
somewhereto is a key project of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad, with a focus on the arts, culture and sport, and is funded by Legacy Trust UK, an independent charity set up to create a cultural and sporting legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games across the UK.
Delivered by youth communications agency Livity in collaboration with media partner Channel 4 Education, somewhereto aims to connect young people with space-holders in their region to enable them to access free space where they can do the things they love.
The six partners are now working towards building relationships with numerous categories of space-holders in their regions to encourage them to unlock unused and under-used spaces such as empty shops, garages, roof-tops, car parks, gyms, allotments and other land to name just a few.
Sam Conniff, Co-Founder of Livity said, “It was important that the regional partners we appointed had strong local connections and were able to speak to two audiences who would not usually connect without an initiative like somewhereto.
“I believe we have kicked off this project with some of the best delivery partners around the country and look forward to hearing about the numerous journeys that are helped along by somewhereto.”
Jo Twist, Commissioning Editor at Channel 4 Education said, “We are delighted with the first appointments because it’s so important for this project that we work with people who already have fantastic relationships with young people in their local areas. The regional coordinators are key to the success of somewhereto and we can’t wait to see what they do.”
To get in touch about the project and/or opening up your space to young people, please contact Kate Harwood, Regional Support and Outreach Coordinator for the somewhereto team on 020 7326 5979 / kate@somewhereto.org.
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For further information or images regarding somewhereto please contact: Mira Jessani on 020 7326 5979 / mira@livity.co.uk.
N.B somewhereto is always spelt with a lower case s.
Notes to Editor
somewhereto, a key project of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, is funded by Legacy Trust UK, an independent charitable trust established with a £40 million endowment from the Big Lottery Fund (£29m), Arts Council England ((£5m) and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (£6m). Legacy Trust UK is an independent charity whose mission is to support a wide range of innovative cultural and sporting activities which celebrate the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and which will leave a lasting legacy in communities throughout the United Kingdom.
With a focus on the arts, culture and sports, somewhereto aims to enable 16-25 year olds across the UK to find spaces to do the things that they love, by working with them to secure access to spaces they often find that they don’t or can’t have access to. somewhereto aims to find a solution to this by connecting young people with space-holders who can help unlock spaces in their area. The interim website can be found at www.somewhereto.com
Livity
Livity is a youth-specialist, multidisciplinary communications agency that mentors young people from a broad range of backgrounds to co-create campaigns, content and communities for brands, government, charities and broadcasters, benefiting businesses, individuals and society. For more information, please visit www.livity.co.uk
Channel 4 Education
Channel 4 Education delivers interactive digital projects aimed at young people in the UK, helping them to understand the world they live in, achieve their personal potential and make the decisions that affect their lives. As the first generation to have grown up with the web, Education’s projects recognise how young people use media and technology to discover, share and learn from their families, friends and social networks. They expect to engage and control their media experiences, and to share experiences with friends across platforms and technologies. For more information please visit www.c4education.wordpress.com
Times – they are’a changing!
Last Saturday Livity was featured in an amazing article in The Times by journalist Alex Clark. It was the cover story of the Saturday Review section and was entitled ‘What’s up with twentysomethings?’
According to Alex, the motivation behind the article was the fact that the new Harry Potter film is just about to be released and if you were 11 when you started reading the books (the same age as Harry in the first installment), you’d be 24 now!
Alex spent one afternoon last week researching her piece at our office, talking to just a few of the young people we work with. She also spoke with myself and Livity co-founder Sam about our involvement with young people, and how we’ve seen things change over the past decade – luckily, whilst I am no longer catagorised by society as a ‘young person’, I am still a ‘twentysomething’ so let Sam lead on that one!
Here’s an extract from the article for those of you that missed it…
“At the offices of Livity, a Brixton-based marketing company that exists, says Sam Conniff, its co-founder, “to benefit the lives of young people, particularly disadvantaged young people”, you would be forgiven for thinking that the younger generation didn’t have a care in the world. In a light- filled, wood-floored loft, with Warhol’s Marilyn prints and banks of Apple Macs, a youthful team puts the finishing touches to Live, a quarterly magazine, while another group readies itself to go to Westminster to question Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister.
Having flown in from Mexico, where he was promoting Dubplate Drama, Livity’s ground-breaking interactive TV series, and about to head off to Bangladesh for discussions on microfinance, Conniff is tired but hardly world-weary as he enthuses about the apprenticeships, mentoring schemes and youth-orientated campaigns that he and his team have pioneered over the past nine years.
But there is a spark of anger when he describes the growing number of kids failed by an education system that is all too quick to label them as troublemakers, to distort the reality of their lives and to consign them to an uncertain future. Livity aims to break the mould by opening its doors to 800 people a year, half of them from challenging backgrounds, with the aim of placing at least 200 in full-time employment or education. “Diversity,” argues Conniff, “breeds innovation, and in this country we do not encourage diversity. We end up replicating ourselves.”
The group of teenagers and twentysomethings that I meet have diverse backgrounds and interests, but they are united in one thing: Livity has given them opportunities that they are unlikely to have other- wise come across in their everyday lives. There’s Paul, who spent nine months on the Music4Good scheme and is now setting up his own marketing consultancy; Shane, who tells me that the keys to his new business, a cleaning company called EcoBoothe, are his fondness for bicarbonate of soda and his determination to pay his staff a living wage; and Bridget, whose involvement in international development projects has increased her awareness of global events. Elleeshea, on a placement at Livity from her Prince’s Trust course, has written a piece about modern female identity; she juggles her work with looking after her three-year-old daughter. From Raphael, who spent a year at Sony on a placement and who tells me that “if there’s an opportunity happening here, you can always get involved”, to Albert, a creative writing enthusiast, who finds that “talking to people makes me fulfilled”, these are youngsters bursting with commitment and determined to grab whatever is on offer. When I ask them what’s worrying them most, they eventually settle on the fear that their travel costs are about to soar.
Livity, of course, cannot accommodate every young person who wanders through its doors, and Conniff is clear that more similar organisations are needed. His sentiments are likely to be echoed by many, particularly those in the numerous agencies focused on helping young people in difficult circumstances…”
Alex Clark for The Times, 6th Nov 2010
I can definitely sympathise with those that Alex spoke to complaining about the rising cost of travel – my biggest gripe about turning 26 wasn’t that it was now inevitable that every ‘aunty’ I met at a wedding would ask me if I was looking for good boy to marry, but the fact that I was no longer eligible for a young person’s railcard! Sad times.
Download a PDF of the full article
Dubplate Y Mexico 2/4. Comienzo de las negociaciones
If the question was can Dubplate Drama work in Mexico, and can we apply a methodology of music and interactive drama to cause discussion and debate amongst young people on issues that matter…AND can we do a TV deal in three days in Mexico City to open a door to Latin America… ?
One day in, and several meetings later (a fortunate number of them by the pool) the answers are beginning to appear…
Dubplate UK told real life stories from the underbelly of the music industry, exposing myths and letting young people see that sometimes the ‘dream’ can really be a nightmare. In Mexico a well known, and loved, singer, who crossed the line of a drugs and gangs lifestyle, wound up beaten, raped, his fingers cut off and left in the street to die.
Can we create compelling dilemmas based on true stories?
Dubplate UK put the stars of the show into cliffhanger dilemmas that real young people had faced for the viewers to decide the outcome. In Mexico a gang strolled into a concert, shot fatally into the crowd and asked the band to ‘choose’ if they would like to leave the venue and come to perform at their ‘party’.
Is there a young audience for Dubplate in Mexico?
Dubplate UK racked up a couple of million views online, a 300% viewer increase in it’s best performing TV slot and still receives daily comments and likes from it’s young (but niche) audience… In Mexico, a country of 120,000,000 people, the average age is 25 and the equivalent of half of the UK (nearly 30 million people) are at school…
America buys the drugs that keep a violent war alive across the northern border of a beautiful country and an ancient culture. As well as providing the demand, America also supplies the guns, and a dodgy Gangsta rap mentality too. An entire police force is viewed (not wholly innacurately) as corrupt and the perceived value of life counts down on daily news reports that, literally, run a rolling tally of the (mainly young) people who’ve been shot.
At the same time a beautiful and brilliant people desperately want to make a difference, against these significant odds, but are faced with a political and media status quo that would make George Orwell proud, the ubiquitous Tele Visa TV just launched the next presidential candidate, who alongside his Tele Novella national figure of a starlet wife, is already accepted to have won… 2 years ahead of a vote.
Young people in Mexico are rarely given an honest chance to have a say, and the young people we’ve heard from clearly want one… even if it is just to decide on a drama, even it is only a reflection of real life.
Perhaps this is why at 15 minutes into our first presentation to three senior commissioners at a major broadcaster (and in Mexico a major broadcaster is the size of a space station) We were stopped whilst they went to get the President of the entire network…
There’s two days left to do a deal…
Comienzo de las negociaciones
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None of this would have been possible without the British Council and they’re amazing teams in both London and Mexico. In particular Angelica Atristain and Claire DeBraekeleer.
