Youth Participation | Australian Youth Music Council

Youth Participation and the AYMC

The AYMC is a mechanism for Youth Participation in the Music Council of Australia, and aims to encourage Youth Participation in Australian music more broadly.

See an article on Youth Participation in Australian Music from Music Forum, Vol 16 No.2 February-April 2010:

Click here to read or download the article (PDF)

Read what the UN has said about Youth Participation in Youth Flash April 2010

About Youth Participation…
The Ladder

The ladder is a metaphor sometimes used to describe the levels of engagement with young people, from the token (at the bottom) to the more meaningful (at the top of the ladder). We think that the ladder is worth climbing and more organisations should listen to young people and interact with them in a meaningful way. This article refers to the “ladder of young people’s participation” described by Sociologist Roger Hart. There is a useful diagram and simple description at the Freechild website

The FreeChild Project provides tools and training to young people and adults that engage children and youth in social change. It has an interesting website, based in the US: www.freechild.org

What is “youth”

Good question. It basically means young people but is often defined in an age range. Much of the research on young people uses the age range 15-25, as does the definition of “youth” many Government and other programs in Australia. AYMC members are in the 15-30 age range, partly because there are other music and arts-related groups that do the same, and partly because we consider 25-30 year olds to be ‘early career’ musicians with similar concerns to 15-25 year olds.

What is “participation”?

Having autonomy, being involved in processes, having a say and making a meaningful contribution. Read the article for more detail.