from YAPRap January 2006
by Vanessa Ford, YAPRap Feature Writer
Living in a regional area, not much to do, but know a few young people who want to make a difference? Why not follow the lead of CRYT?
So what, and who, is CRYT? CRYT stands for the Creative Riverina Youth Team and is made up of Crytters. No, not those annoying little bugs you find scurrying around on your kitchen floor late at night, but young people between 13 - 25 years who live in Griffith (a town in the Riverina area of NSW). Members come from a range of experiences and backgrounds, including school students, TAFE students, job seekers and Indigenous young people.
CRYT originally formed in September 2002 in response to there being no youth arts culture, or not much at all to do, in Griffith. Since forming CRYT has put on a number of events for young people in Griffith to address this. Amongst their myriad events, they have organised:
- a Jebediah gig
- Youth Week 2003 and 2004
- busker's stage at La Festa (Griffith's International Festival)
- over 40 workshops for young people.
Within CRYT young people make all the decisions. They do the planning, put ideas into practice and evaluate to find out what worked or what can be improved. But they do get a fair bit of support and expertise from Anne Garzoli, Community & Cultural Services Manager at Griffith City Council.
In 2005, CRYT was granted $190,000 in funding for three years from the Foundation for Young Australians Partnership Grants. CRYT is one of only two regional centres in Australia to get this funding and the only one in regional NSW, so they are obviously doing something right!
So, how did CRYT get funded?
Mostly as Anne said, "truck loads of hard work."
To get a Partnership Grant from the Foundation for Young Australians, CRYT had to first do some research to identify what the important issues and needs were for young people in Griffith and create a project plan to show what they were going to do about these needs.
To identify the needs of young people in Griffith, the Crytters asked a heap of young people and service providers to fill in surveys with questions on what are the good or not so good things about Griffith and what young people need. The hard working Crytters surveyed young people in each of the three local high schools and TAFE, ending up with a total of more than 400 responses!
CRYT also used research on local issues that had already been done by Griffith City Council and other organisations.
What are CRYT's plans with their funding?
From their community mapping, CRYT identified four major issues important to young people in Griffith:
- racism
- access to services and entertainment
- safety
- boredom.
The Crytters then held planning sessions to work out how they were going to address these issues. They broke into groups, looked at the issues arising from the surveys and came up with some inspiration on what to do. And, by doing their own research on what was already happening in their local area and what government departments were doing, CRYT have been able to link in to other projects and make sure they are not repeating the work of others.
With their funding CRYT have lots of plans, including employing someone to help them with their work, create an office for CRYT, create a website to promote their work for the long term and run more workshops and events to address the issues young people raised. Their long term plans are to eventually create a youth space in Griffith where young people can drop in, show films, eat, learn and be creative ... and after that it's on to saving the world. At every stage they plan to make sure that young people are involved and take ownership of CRYT.
What challenges has CRYT faced?
But their success hasn't taken place without some challenges along the way.
Getting young people involved
Sure there might be a few young people interested and keen to get something happening, but it can sometimes be a struggle to get more young people involved especially as time goes on. As Keira McGrath, one Crytter said, "don't expect every young person to turn up simply because you want them too. Young people are diverse. We have different interests, just like adults."
CRYT's advice is to spend time planning ways to get young people involved. Why not go out and speak with a range of young people about what would get, and keep, them interested?
Being taken seriously
The Crytters said they had some difficulties trying to get young people to take the surveys seriously. So they stood there with the young people to help answer any questions and encourage them to complete the survey.
Planning for the long haul
CRYT has an executive of young people who do a lot of the ongoing work. It is this executive who will help to create a long term plan for the work of CRYT. In their planning CRYT identified the need to develop a long term plan to keep CRYT going after the funding from the Foundation for Young Australians runs out. This is something they will continue to work on in conjunction with putting on events, etc.
What has worked for CRYT
CRYT has a heap of advice that might help you ...
Spreading the word
CRYT has been working with their local newspaper to make sure they get positive publicity for each event they work on. This means writing a media release to catch the attention of the media, contacting local media to follow up and being available for interviews and photos.
CRYT also made a DVD of what they've done so far, which they gave to the Foundation for Young Australians as part of their funding application and have been able to show to young people in schools and to potential partner organisations in their community.
Involving a diversity of people
CRYT are also mindful of the diversity in their community and of ensuring representation of young people from different communities at all stages. This is particularly important in an area where there are 70 first languages and 40 settled communities!
Staging small events along the way
CRYT found that young people are likely to sign up to be part of CRYT after they attended CRYT events as it gives them an idea of what they could potentially be part of.
Having small events also means greater satisfaction from those involved. As you know, it can be frustrating when something you are working on takes a long time to get going. But, if you plan small events along the way, and take time out to celebrate the finish of each event, being involved can be a lot more rewarding and fun!
Making planning and meetings fun
Their planning is often tied to events such as making a DVD. Another Crytter, Alicia Wakley, said, "this way we get lots of people involved. We can get feedback, can do surveys and engage young people on issues important to them. So how we plan is engaging and innovative."
CRYT are sure to provide food and an informal venue so young people enjoy coming along to meetings.
As part of their initial research, Crytters also went on a bus trip around Griffith and surrounding areas to better understand their community, each other and the people who live there.
To help keep the Crytters on track they each have their own folder where they can put all the information they collected and document their thoughts as they were planning the project.
Money, money, money
Sure it doesn't make the world go around, but it does help. For CRYT having money has meant being able to provide food and transport so that young people can attend meetings. Having food to offer young people who participate is one of the best ways to attract young people and show appreciation for their time.
Anne also said that it helps to recognise the value of money and pay people for their services, rather than relying on volunteers and sponsorship from adults. This way people take you more seriously.
Asking for help
It's important to remember that you may not be able to do everything yourself. Get to know a dedicated youth or community worker to help you out - it's part of their job to support young people in their communities.
Even if the youth worker doesn't have heaps of money to offer, it is likely they can help in other ways like providing a meeting space, computer and their expertise.
Having someone helping can also connect you to other networks and supports in the broader community. CRYT is supported by Griffith City Council, which has links to a lot of other community and state organisations. Agencies such as the Commission for Children and Young People have consulted with CRYT about their views on education and on young people's participation. This has helped to build up the reputation of CRYT as a valuable source of young people's views and increases the likelihood that other agencies will also seek to get involved with their work.
Want to know more?
Sure it has taken the young people in CRYT some time to get their plans up and running, and acknowledging that your plans can take time to happen is really important to keep in mind.
Although, in that time the Crytters have put on a range of great events, had a heap of fun, learnt some valuable skills and shown their community that young people can make a significant input. Now, it's on to saving the world for these Crytters ...
more info
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CRYT:
www.cryt.com.au
Anne Garzoli, Community & Cultural Services Manager, Griffith City Council
02 6962 8145
See also this story about an Aboriginal youth art exhibition:
Wiradjuri Youth Kulture - Our faces, our places... this is our story -
Foundation for Young Australians:
www.youngaustralians.org
03 9670 5436
