PUBLICS Youth Advisory Board is a collective of young poeple working within our organisation to implement, question and expand our activities. PUBLICS Youth partners with the Teen Advisory Boards of Index Foundation (Stockholm) and PRAKSIS (Oslo) as part of the Future Futures network which brings together the three youth groups to share their on-going work and experience.

As part of their tenure, the Boards have produced podcasts and publications where they document and share their work and ideas.

PUBLICS Youth Advisory Board PODCAST 2023 with Helsinki Open Waves

𝑬𝒑𝒊𝒔𝒐𝒅𝒆 𝟏, 𝑩𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆
Aliina Kemppainen, Yu Yue, and Vitória Freitas share about positioning themselves in the local cultural scene. People contribute to the making of culture in many ways, and being present and in conversation affects others a great deal. This is already a powerful form of advising! Aliina, Yue, and Vitória remind us that the first step to make a safer space for others and for collective work is to break down conventions and expectations, and to allow everyone’s personal ways of working.

𝑬𝒑𝒊𝒔𝒐𝒅𝒆 𝟐, 𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒖𝒕
Stella Massa, Emmi Surwillo, and Yu Yue break down the question of inclusion, by reflecting on the infrastructures and habits of the creative industry. They share their first professional experiences and the struggle with salaries and overwork, and call out the risk of tokenism – when institutions use their power to include young voices without working towards real equality and collaboration. Their response is a desire to escape performativity.

𝑬𝒑𝒊𝒔𝒐𝒅𝒆 𝟑, 𝑽𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆
Vitória Freitas, Aliina Kemppainen, Stella Massa, and Emmi Surwillo present how they have worked with sound and voice during the last year. They remind us of the importance of sharing the platforms we have access to with those who are being silenced and discriminated against. Sound is an exciting medium to work with to explore language and meaning with freedom and directness. We can find courage and agency in working together, while being mindful of the difference between one’s personal and collective voice.

PUBLICS Youth Advisory Board PODCAST 2022

Transcript (PDF)

In episode 1. PUBLICS Youth 2022 In Conversation, Anastasiia Lapteva, Manda Loipponen, Valeriia Masliukova-Malova, Erika Ryppieva, Róza Turunen, and Vanessa Uhlbäck recollect some of the conversations and activities that they have experienced as being part of the Board. In their words, playfulness and togetherness emerge as strategies to navigate the moment of passage from teenagehood to adulthood, and to reclaim self-definition in the shift from education to professionalization. The Boards also reflect on the status of the Youth as a collective within the organization of PUBLICS; and on the experience of engaging with art while being in dialogue with others.

Podcast recorded on 6th December 2022. Recording and editing by Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen.

Transcript (PDF)

In episode 2. Harold Offeh on working with PUBLICS Youth, artist and educator Harold Offeh and project coordinator Micol Curatolo reconsider their experience of working with PUBLICS Youth, putting into perspective the role that projects like Youth Advisory Board play in both the personal trajectory of one’s growth, and the infrastructures of contemporary art education and professionalization. Harold Offeh worked with the Youth on the political and cultural meaning of voice and play, and how those are made public. Together they have explored how voices appear in popular visual culture, questioning the relation between digital performativity and the politics of voice.

Podcast recorded on 15th December 2022. Editing by Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen.

Index Teen Advisory Board PODCAST

How do we know? – Institutional listening and young agency features Malin Issa, Sarika Ullah, Felix Krausz Sjögren, Luna Sackett, Vigo Roth and Isabella Tjäder discussing the process of making the Teen Advisory Boards publication by the same title.

Going to a Conference: In Character In this podcast episode ITAB members reflect on how we are expected to behave in arts spaces. Featuring: Sadia Hassan, Nellie Barazandeh, Mikkel Inchley, Sumaya Elmi, Annine Slettebø, Noah Gylver, Hannah Røsholt Siger, Zeinab Al-khatib, Nasteha Hassan Mahamed, José Velasquez Esteban, Emil Pita, Sarika Ullah, Simon Sjöberg, Malin Issa, Adina Edfelt and Felix Krausz Sjögren.

PRAKSIS Teen Advisory Board PODCAST

Language in art – from young perspectives How does language affect our relationships and comfort levels? A discussion with PTAB members Ari Sigurdarson, Dugagjin Osmanaj, Emil Temim, Fariha Malik, Gard Møller-Johansen, Ilwaad Mahamed, Mey-Thip Mortensen, Sujani Sutharsan.

Discussing decolonisation What is decolonisation, why do we need it and how to approach it? A conversation by PTAB members Sadia Hassan, Nellie Barazandeh, Mikkel Inchley, Sumaya Elmi, Annine Slettebø, Noah Gylver, Hannah Røsholt Siger, Zeinab Al-khatib, Nasteha Hassan Mahamed, José Velasquez Esteban, Emil Pita, Sarika Ullah, Simon Sjöberg, Malin Issa, Adina Edfelt and Felix Krausz Sjögren.

How do we know? Institutional listening and young agency in the arts

How do we know? at Today Is Our Tomorrow at PUBLICS, 2022. Credit: Aman Askarizad.

Buy the book at PUBLICS Library and download the free PDF here.

The book was co-created by 16-21 year olds participating in the Teen Advisory Boards of Index (Stockholm) and PRAKSIS (Oslo) together with PUBLICS Youth (Helsinki) and organisers at Index, PRAKSIS and PUBLICS, as well as others they met along the way. The young boards at these organisations convene regularly and work to improve artistic and institutional practice from the inside.

This book represents two years of activity and features contributions from both the 2020-21 and 2021-22 Teen Advisory Board membership. The first part of the book reflects 2021-22 activities, including TAB members meeting in person together with Publics Youth in Helsinkim where they participated in the conference, Today is Our Tomorrow at PUBLICS. Supporting this are lightly modified reproductions of TAB zines generated in 2020-21: PRAKSIS’s publication In Character: The Game Manual, and Index’s magazine In Character: Index Teen Advisory Board. Together, the three sections offer three distinct perspectives on TAB members’ explorations and discussions.

As well as documenting activities and sharing TAB members’ reflections on the arts and culture today, the sections contain practical details of workshop strategies and practices engaged by board members as a means both to encounter and intervene in the world of the arts. Thus, the book serves not just as documentation of two years of vibrant, joyful creative activity and youthful critical thinking, but as a potential tool for others looking to embed young people’s views, hopes, concerns, experience and knowledge into the core of their organisational and/or cultural practices.

Podcast recording at PUBLICS with Róza, Manda, Valeriia, and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen.