Birmingham Hippodrome have announced their newest cohort of Young Advocates, a group of 14–22-year-olds from the West Midlands who will support and influence the Hippodrome’s work with and for young people.
The Young Advocates will be supported with their individual development as well as working on a collective vision for Birmingham Hippodrome’s future, feeding back to the organisation’s senior team and Board. Alongside working closely with the Hippodrome team to programme and produce events for young people, the Young Advocates will also receive training, mentoring and access to a range of different opportunities within the arts industry.
Previous cohorts of Young Advocates have launched the Young Community Drop In sessions, which are now a regular part of the Hippodrome’s programme of events for young people, hosted their own events as part of TEDxYouth@Brum, curated a stage of artists at Birmingham Weekender, and spoken at a fundraising event which raised £10,000 for Birmingham Hippodrome’s work with young people. Birmingham Hippodrome’s 2024 cohort of Young Advocates are: Rachel, Charisma, Izzy, Olly, Thomas, Pravita, Tori, Will, Kate, Tallulah, Saffy, Matilda, Harvey, Gurdev, Ellie, Claire, Chevron, Ava, Bradley, Daniel, Jaheem and Oceanna.
Mathilde Petford, Young People and Community Manager at Birmingham Hippodrome said: “This is our third and biggest cohort of Young Advocates.
“We had almost 50% of last year's group wanting to stay on the programme so we have a lovely mix of experienced and new young people. The group include writers, dancers, actors, costume designers, musicians who come from all over the West Midlands and are particularly interested in access and inclusion in the arts.
“The Young Advocates will work closely with Hippodrome to help shape the future of the organisation, supporting us in the delivery of our new five-year strategy. I'm pretty certain we have some future leaders in the group, so watch this space!"
