Counting down to the Year of Young People

Mark McDonald, Scottish Government Minister for Childcare and Early Years, yesterday launched a search in Edinburgh for young ambassadors for Scotland’s Year of Young People 2018 (YOYP 2018). On the milestone of 300 days to go until the year starts, a new website, event funding and the official logo for YOYP 2018 were also unveiled.

To mark the launch the Minister was joined by a group of young people from across the country at the National Museum of Scotland, including Zara Akhtar, Ben Gray, Lewis McClelland, Molly Nock, and Iain Waugh, from Edinburgh.

YOYP 2018 will inspire Scotland through its young people aged 8 to 26, celebrating their achievements, valuing their contributions to communities and creating new opportunities for them to shine locally, nationally and globally.

It is the next of the Scottish Government’s series of themed years and follows the Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology 2017.

Young Scot, Children in Scotland and Scottish Youth Parliament, are recruiting 200 young people throughout Scotland to become YOYP 2018 Ambassadors. Ambassadors will ensure that people and organisations in their communities know about what’s happening. Together with other Ambassadors they will lead on projects and activities to create events and opportunities to celebrate young people.

Supporting the campaign is Rachael McCully, from East Kilbride, who has been involved in YOYP 2018 through all the planning stages. Commenting on the search for Ambassadors, Rachael said: “2018 is our chance to showcase the reality of being a young person today, who we really are and this programme is the starting point. It’s an opportunity for us to be heard, meet new people and learn new skills as well as showing off the ones we have. I would really encourage and we would love to see as many different types of young people getting involved and helping their community.”

Co-design with young people is fundamental to the success of the Year which will provide opportunities for young people to have their views heard and acted upon. Over 800 young people were previously involved in developing the aims, objectives and themes for YOYP 2018.

Young people have also been fully involved in designing the logo for the Year, which was also unveiled yesterday. This process kicked off at a creative jam day in December last year, which involved more than 40 young people. Following that event, two students from Edinburgh College, Molly Nock and Iain Waugh, took part in an internship at creative agency The Gate to take forward the ideas generated at the event and develop the logo further. This culminated in them visiting the Scottish Parliament earlier this year to present the final logo to the Minister.

Mark McDonald, Minister for Childcare and Early Years, said: “The Year of Young People 2018 will be a great opportunity to showcase one of Scotland’s greatest strengths – our young people. It will be an opportunity to celebrate their amazing talents and achievements and we hope everyone will join in and embrace what is set to be an exciting Year. The philosophy of co-production and co-design with young people is central to the entire Year – we want to ensure YOYP is both for and by young people.”

Iain Waugh, Edinburgh College student, commenting on the logo, said: “The logo is a great example of how co-collaboration can work in action. With over 40 young people taking part it was a great experience to be involved in the design right from the beginning and to have a say in how the logo is presented. I hope everyone will like the direction which was chosen because the circle represents inclusion and the multi-coloured tartan represents both diversity and tradition.”

EventScotland will be coordinating the celebratory events programme that will put young people at the heart of its development and delivery, creating new and valuable experiences for young Scots and the wider public. It is inviting the events and festivals sector across Scotland to apply for support through its Year of Young People 2018 Open Event Fund. The Fund is designed to support proposals that will form an events programme created especially for 2018 that will provide opportunities for celebration, engagement and participation.

The celebration begins on 1 January 2018. Further information on what’s happening, to apply to be an Ambassador and get involved can be found on the new website www.yoyp2018.scot.