On Saturday 14 May local rangatahi came together to take part in a couple of creative events geared towards celebrating youth in our community.
“Our voices matter and we deserve to be heard” was the theme of Youth Week this year. Youth Week is a yearly festival run by Ara Taiohi, an organisation that enables young people to create inclusive youth events across Aotearoa. It runs from the 7th-15th of May and has a new theme each year.
Locally in Whaingaroa, organisers brought the community together through the opportunity of self-expression.
Freedom of expression is a crucial part of our world and a human right. It is important because it ensures our beliefs, ideas, emotions and needs are heard.
Many of us have the privilege of freedom of expression and an aim of our event was offering others this freedom. It was brilliant to be part of a unification of diverse groups across our community for a progressive and positive purpose.
“As young people, we are the future, and so our voices are important and need to be heard.”- Luna De La Cruz
At the skatepark on May 15th, kids, teens and young adults created art in the windy sunshine whilst the music from the Raglan Area School DJ event poured out of the speakers. Delicious soup and pizzas lined the tables alongside fresh fruit and juice.
“It was beautiful to see all the smiles and our community coming together.” – Vida Bradbury
Creating this event took lots of effort and planning. We had fun and made the most of some great learning opportunities.
“It was very empowering to create and partake in Youth Week” – Stella O’Donnell.
The artworks will be publicly exhibited in Raglan soon.
Special thanks to Ara Taiohi for Youth Week; to everyone who participated, to Gabrielle Parson and Tukana Dalton for helping the tamariki to organise and run this event; to all the adults who came down to support, to Lance, Ataera and Jarvis – local artists, for support, to Dal at Essence of Rangatahi for the koha, Chris at Raglan Landscapes for fencing and Roll Up for delicious soup and Raglan Naturally for support.
