Starting Out With a Bang!

Starting out with a bang!

Our Young Journalist in Residence Mallika Ahmed shares her take on January 2023's manifesto launch event.

 

The Children’s Capital of Culture’s manifesto launch event at Gulliver’s Valley was nothing short of extraordinary: from the array of delicious snacks greeting you at the door to the performances full of talent. The whole event created such a bright energy for the future of Rotherham’s Children’s capital of Culture. I attended the event to talk to people and discover what they had in store for us all to be electrified in anticipation for…

The event included many stalls run by different organisations and funders, which offered interactive games and ice breakers. Grimm & Co.’s stall was first in line to greet you with a warm welcome when entering the event hall. Their activity of creating a mythical persona for each event attendee was a great way to get everyone relaxed and excited during the wait for the performances. My own persona was a Leprechaun called Lulu!

I got the opportunity to speak with their team about the part they hold in the Children’s Capital of Culture, to which they informed me about how they created the Embassy for Reimagining Rotherham project as a children-led organisation. Deborah Bullivant, the founder of Grimm & Co., created this charity to inspire young minds to dream and have passionate imaginations. This idea of allowing the younger, future generation to reimagine Rotherham how they see fit and express their views and opinions on how to improve the town is exactly what I believe the Children’s Capital of Culture to be putting into action as we speak.

The event showed me how Children’s Capital of Culture is all about creating opportunities and making Rotherham a more enjoyable and hope-filled place where ideas can be nurtured and grow into realities.

I spoke with Liz Churton, who was live illustrating the event. She told me all about her business Visual Futures, which was born though the Children’s Capital of Culture activities that took place at Magna in 2022. Whilst attending an event there she first met her future creative co-director of Visual Futures, Natasha Poland. The event held by the Children’s Capital of Culture brought them together and allowed them to bond over their similar ideas and interests, which led to them creating a brand all about helping people and their futures. Without Children’s Capital of Culture they may never have met and had the opportunity to create such an inspiring brand about making ideas visual and bringing them to life. The idea of bringing people together is what the Children’s Capital of Culture is all about and this shows how it being put into action is working and creating real opportunities for real people.

 

I got to speak to many other people who attended the manifesto launch, some being sponsors and others there to see what Children’s Capital of Culture had in store for the future. One person I got to speak to was the previous Mayor of Rotherham, Councillor Tajamal Khan. He told me how he wants to promote and support the launch of the Children’s Capital of Culture as it’s great for the future of the borough and the people living in it. He expressed how he was excited to see what the Children’s Capital of Culture had in store and how he’s proud to be a part of something so bright that could put Rotherham on the map. Like many others he also spoke about how he admired the children-led aspect and thought it was a great way to promote and recognise the talent of future generation. He also spoke about his admiration towards it bringing children and young adults together in finding opportunities and communities they love.

Overall, the manifesto launch party for the Rotherham’s Children’s Capital of Culture was a warm and thrilling welcome to what was in store for the future. It showed the opportunities it hoped to bring and the facilities it hoped to ensure for Rotherham to be the best place it can be. The children-led aspect was greatly credited, as many people I spoke to said how it’s going to bring a lot more opportunities for the thing young adults want – more than they had when they were younger! Most if not all felt a great eagerness to see what was in store. This just shows the effect the Children’s Capital of Culture already has on people and the power it has to bring a more positive light to Rotherham. Personally, I can’t wait to see what the Rotherham’s Children’s Capital of Culture has in store and I’m sure you can’t either.