From Co-production to Autonomy: Supporting young people to take the lead

About the Session

Join us for a 2 hour session on how to empower young people as they progress from co-creation to taking full leadership and becoming truly autonomous. Led by Wired4Music Associates Shakira Alleyne and Yasmine Dankwah, they’ll share their own personal journeys of working with Sound Connections, offering valuable insights on how organisations can support young people in developing leadership and autonomy. Through case studies and group exercises, we’ll explore practical ways to apply this approach in your own work.

The session will be followed by a 30 minute networking opportunity, providing space for you to share ideas, learn from one another, and connect with others championing youth voice.

Each participant will also receive a 45-minute mentoring session with a team member at a later date to further explore how these ideas can be applied to your specific context and enhance your youth voice practice.

Who’s it for?

Anyone who is working with young people in the music, creative and cultural sectors.

Yasmine Dankwah (She/Her)

Yasmine is a British-Ghanaian writer, spoken word poet and Wired4Music Associate born raised and based in South London. Passionate about creative access and equity, informed by her former roles at the Black Music Coalition and Notion Magazine, as an Associate she’s had the opportunity to work with a variety of different organisations and develop her skillset and passion further. Yasmine has performed as part of Sofar Sounds, The Roundhouse and has been featured on BBC Radio London. She is also a recipient of the Francis Chagrin award for composition.

Shakira Alleyne (She/Her)

Shakira Alleyne is a writer and musician from London. Guided by an experimental ethos, her focus as an artist is to reconnect people with raw emotions and encourage critical questioning. Shakira has been involved in various grassroots projects including her Roundhouse residency and Brownswood’s talent initiative Future Bubblers. She has also worked with an array of prestigious brands such as Fred Perry, Universal and Vacheron Constantin. Making music has been a powerful outlet for Shakira over the years and this fuels her passion for creating exciting and inclusive musical opportunities for all.