Introduction
Step into the scene. Speak your truth. Shape the future.
We are a group of young people (14–17 years old) from across the West Midlands, and we’ve created a play based on our lived experiences of trying to access work experience, navigating career choices and building the skills we need to navigate youth employment. Low-paid jobs, lack of support, and barriers to meaningful work placements—sound familiar?
On March 24, 2025, we performed “You’re Fried: the Realities of Youth Employment” for the first time. But this wasn’t just a play—it was a Legislative Theatre event where the audience and a team of policymakers from the West Midlands helped us co-create real policy proposals.
Now we’re back. On July 1st, we’re inviting you to take part in the next round - 4.30-7.30pm South and City College, Digbeth campus.
This time we will be working with communities in East Birmingham and a new group of decision-makers in the room, from the Birmingham City Council.
Details
🤝 How did we get here?
This work is part of the INSPIRE project, and we partnered with:
Young Combined Authority, who identified youth employment as a top priority
Youth Focus West Midlands, who helped ground this work in our communities
Fifteen of us took part in this Legislative Theatre journey, led by practitioners Sam Dixon and Lee Grant, and mentored by Katy Rubin. Sonia Bussu and Dena Arya support the participatory evaluation of the process to make sure it leads to real learning and change. Nadia Nadesan and Olivier Schulbaum support the digitalisation of the process.
If you want to explore the full process that led up to the performance—from early ideas to co-creation and policymaking—you can visit the full INSPIRE West Midlands Participatory Process here:
👉 participate.inspiredemocracy.eu/superspaces/superspaces/1
Objectives
✅ Join Us & Be Part of the Change
This is not just about watching a play. It’s about building something together.
Add your voice, your ideas, your lived experience.
Let’s reimagine what employment—and democracy—can be.
Sign up now to join us on July 1st.
Explore the proposals. Contribute. Participate.
Together, we’re turning theatre into policy.
🧭 Policy Tracker: From Stage to Change
Explore the proposals from March. Add your voice. Help us push them forward.
This isn’t a performance you clap for and forget—it’s a movement that keeps growing.
We’re not finished. So ask yourself: will you be part of what comes next? https://participate.inspiredemocracy.eu/conferences/Fried/f/55/
Here’s what we’re calling for:
🧒🏽 Start career support early—talk to us and our families from primary school.
📍 Make career advice available where we actually go—like youth centres and libraries.
💪🏾 Give us proper work experience—with mentors, real roles, and no more being coffee-fetchers.
Conference Venues
-
BirminghamSouth and City College, Digbeth campus, Birmingham, UK
-
16:30 ПО ПОЛУДНІ - 19:30 ПО ПОЛУДНІ UTC
Поділитися