Young Ambassadors
A young ambassador poses for Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature's marketing campaign.
Image by Alex Traska.
The Young City of Literature Ambassadors project recruited 14 young people from 11 schools and community organisations to co-create and participate in a writing development programme. It provided writing and professional development opportunities to the young ambassadors, including 3 mentoring sessions over 12 months with professional writers, while also empowering the young ambassadors to develop and champion reading and writing cultures in their schools and communities. It ran from 2019 to 2020.
I was commissioned as the Programme Manager half way through the project, where I brought 8 years of engagement experience with young people and expertise in literature from the PhD. I quickly built relationships with 11 teachers and librarians, the young ambassadors, and writers in the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire area and brought them together to deliver the project in a quick turnaround. I monitored project progress and engagement, the key outputs for the young ambassadors, and identified with them and their teachers new opportunities to enhance their skills and experience.