What Happens When Young People Lead Culture in Huddersfield

A space for conversation, creativity and critical thinking

During the February half term, MakerWorld in Huddersfield became a space for young people to come together and ask some big questions.

As part of OffScript: Youth Power Week, young people took part in a series of creative workshops across the town, exploring filmmaking with Studio Bokehgo, sculpture with artist Mick Kirkby-Geddes, music production alongside Jam Factory, and a behind-the-scenes tour of Lawrence Batley Theatre.

Alongside this programme, Chol ran This Stage Is Ours, a week long creative project exploring power, voice and what it means to grow up in a world that often feels overwhelming.

Over several days, a small group of young people came together to talk, write, debate, research and make work together. The conversations ranged widely – from social media and misinformation to protest movements, global conflict and the constant stream of headlines shaping how we understand the world.

Rather than starting with a finished idea, the work grew through conversation, creative writing, experimentation and shared reflection. Everyone in the room brought their own experiences, questions and perspectives. Gradually, these conversations began to form something collective.

From discussion to shared creative work

What emerged was Sentience: What If Things Could Change?, a spoken word performance combining poetry, projection and collective writing.

At the centre of the piece was a line that captured the feeling driving much of the week’s conversations:

A young performer stands beside a microphone holding notes during a spoken word performance at MakerWorld in Huddersfield. The stage is lit with pink and blue lighting, with a red chair behind them. The performance formed part of This Stage Is Ours, a youth-led creative project exploring voice, power and social change as part of OffScript Youth Power Week.

‘We are people with thoughts and feelings – not statistics on a page.‘

The performance explored what it means to live in a world where people are often reduced to headlines, numbers or narratives, and what happens when we stop long enough to recognise the human stories behind them.

The process allowed space for complexity and contradiction. Participants explored how global issues intersect with everyday experiences, and how the pressure to respond to constant information can shape how young people see themselves and their futures.

Sharing the work: OffScript at MakerWorld

The piece was shared at the OffScript celebration event on Saturday evening, where MakerWorld filled with young people, artists and local audiences for a night of music, poetry and creative activity celebrating the creativity already alive in Huddersfield.

Live sets from Third Avenue and Sophie and Songs brought energy to the space, while activities ran throughout the evening – from junk couture and portrait making to poetry writing and conversation spaces where visitors could explore campaigns and causes connected to themes raised during the week.

It was lively, thoughtful and a little chaotic in the best possible way – a reminder that creative spaces can hold both experimentation and care at the same time.

Young Producers as cultural leaders

At the centre of OffScript were three Young Producers who spent six weeks shaping, organising and delivering the event. From programming activity and gathering resources to promoting the event and coordinating artists, they brought vision, care and serious creative leadership to the process.

Their work is a reminder that young people are not simply participants in culture – they are organisers, thinkers and producers.

“Through ‘This Stage Is Ours’ and the OffScript week as a whole, I felt that my voice and voices of other young people were heard and valued. I felt comfortable and confident in sharing my opinions, ideas and unique perspective, which allowed for learning and growth to take place. I believe that spaces like this are crucial in making Huddersfield an exciting, understanding and collaborative community of new ideas and shared voices.“
– Young Producer

Access, value and paying young creatives

If we want a thriving creative future in places like Huddersfield and across Kirklees, we need to recognise and support this reality.

One of the biggest barriers young people face when entering the arts is access. Too often the expectation is that emerging creatives should volunteer or work for free in order to gain experience. However, this model excludes those who cannot afford to give their time unpaid.

Through Chol Theatre’s Young Producer Programme, supported by our Arts Council England National Portfolio funding, the Young Producers leading OffScript were paid for their time and expertise. This recognises the value they bring to the work and makes the opportunity more genuinely accessible.

OffScript was delivered in partnership with The Children’s Art School at MakerWorld and supported using public funding by Arts Council England, whose investment helps create opportunities for young people to experiment, collaborate and lead creative projects.

From live moment to digital sharing

The performance created through This Stage Is Ours will soon be shared digitally. The spoken word piece will be recorded and layered with the animation and projection developed during the week, allowing the work to reach audiences beyond the room where it was first performed.

What this means for Huddersfield’s cultural future

Huddersfield has always been a town of ideas, creativity and collective action. Weeks like OffScript show us that the next generation is ready to carry that forward.

Across the week we saw young people thinking critically, questioning systems, organising events, writing poetry, making music and responding creatively to the world around them.

The week showed clearly that young people in Huddersfield already have the ideas, creativity and political awareness to shape the future of culture here. What they need are the spaces, support and trust to do it.

This means more opportunities for young people to come together, more programmes rooted in conversation and experimentation, and more pathways that recognise young creatives as collaborators rather than simply participants.

If we want a thriving cultural ecology across Huddersfield and Kirklees, we need to keep building the infrastructure that allows young people to lead – creative spaces, youth led programmes, paid opportunities and partnerships that connect artists, communities and organisations.

Investing in these conditions creates the possibility for young people to gather, experiment and take the lead in shaping culture.

The role of organisations like ours is simple: keep building the conditions where young people can meet, make, question and lead.