How do we support the imaginations and aspirations of our young people?
realtime talk is an online film and screening project developed with young people in Calderdale.

Devised by verd de gris arts and Calderdale Open Minds Partnership with filmmaker Geoff Brokate.

Watch the film here:

‘While our young people may be less physically affected by the disease, as a group, it is they who will suffer most from Covid-19. It is breaking dreams, it is stopping learning and it is piling on huge debt for their future. How can we follow and support the imaginations and aspirations of a generation that need our help now?’
David Jubb, Artistic Director and CEO of Battersea Arts Centre

verd de gris arts spent a year working with filmmaker Geoff Brokate and young people from across the borough of Calderdale, in a bid to understand more about the impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on them, their lives, their schooling, their families, their friends.

Geoff also had the chance to discuss their attitudes to mental health and wellbeing, and some of the specific issues that impact on their happiness and quality of life.

The resulting films are available to share with you. They range in subject matter from self-harm, sexuality and identity and neurological disorders. They are beautifully filmed, and reflect the strong degree of trust Geoff built up with each young person: there is a rare honesty and openness in the way these young people talk about their world and their futures.

The online screening event in March 2021 will give audiences the chance to watch a new, extended edit of the films and talk with the young people who took part about their films, the issues raised and their hopes for the future.

We will hear from local commissioners and service providers who deliver emotional health and wellbeing services to children and young people.

We will also be joined by Agia Luna, Director of Artixoc who work with young people in Barcelona, using art as a tool for education and social transformation. Agia will share her thoughts on how young people in her country have experienced the pandemic and how they use creativity to give young Catalans a voice.