From Walk in Our Shoes

Young people at Mess Up The Mess have been using arts and creative techniques to change their communities for the better since 2013. We pioneered a creative community action project model in which professional artists work alongside young people to investigate the issues that matter to them and create artworks which effect change. Highlights have included:

• Walk in Our Shoes – young carers from Newport created an immersive performance in which the audience experienced 24 hours in the life of a young carer by travelling around a giant clock. The clock was split into wedges with each wedge representing 2 hours in the day. The young people wanted to increase headteachers empathy for young carers everyday experiences. It was performed to an invited audience of headteachers and other decision makers who were all greeted with a rucksack and set off on the challenge of a surviving a day as a young care and overcoming their daily obstacles. They succeeded in getting schools to adopt a young carers card and improving their policies towards young carers.
• Trans Form / Humanequin – trans young people from across South Wales created a performance and videos to raise awareness of gender identity. The videos were used in PHSE lessons in schools. The initial performance did a small tour of educational establishments before culminating with an invited audience of decision makers in Cardiff Bay.   The young people were wanted organisations to reconsider how gender information was monitored and passionate that gender identity was explore in PHSE lessons. The performance was developed into a professional production at Wales Millennium Centre w and which had a week long run alongside training for teachers led by Youth Cymru.
• Trapped Within – young people from Merthyr Tydfil created an escape room challenging social media bullying and the effect of ‘banter pages’. An audience of local people and decision makers were led by young people in a debrief workshop that challenged tge audience to reconsider their mobile phone privacy setting and make pledges to reduce their time spent on social media. This production was remounted for the national youth arts festival RawFfest.
• Yfory – a three year programme in which young people are using art to protect what they cherish in the world today and improve the world of tomorrow. Themes explore to date include the environment, protecting youth services, children’s right to unsupervised outside play and the promotion of BSL and other inclusive languages.
• Lost Voices – working in partnership with Llamau and Swansea Social Services, we supported young people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness to make “Not So Fun Fun House” a promenade performance exploring mental health and homelessnes and the difficulties young people experience navigating state services including health, benefits and the court system: performed to an invited audience of service providers and decision makers.