Recruitment Now Open
Who are we?
Guthanna Óga - Young Voices is the youth advisory panel for Fighting Words and Fighting Words Northern Ireland. These young people are the most important advisors to our staff and board, not only because they are responsible for bringing the voices of young people into a room of adults, but also because they are our only official panel that spans the whole island of Ireland. Guthanna Óga - Young Voices brings together the perspectives and experiences from all of Fighting Words centres.
Guthanna Óga Panel Manifesto: Fight for the Write!
"We will empower young writers on the island of Ireland and nurture their creative self-expression, especially as they grow up with decreasing opportunities to do creative things. We will connect up young writers and provide a supportive, positive atmosphere that protects creative headspace, where everyone can be different, can be themselves; where success is not academic or economic, but on their own individual terms; where creative writing is not just a dream or a fantasy but an enriching, empowering and important path through life."
Are you a young person aged 15-18? Do you want a fun and easy way to help your community?
Join Guthanna Óga/ Young Voices: our All-Ireland Youth Advisory Panel. Use your voice to champion to right of children and young people to have FREE access to creative opportunities.
You don’t need ANY previous experience. Don’t worry if you’ve never taken part in one of our activities before, if you don’t consider yourself a writer, or if you’ve never been part of a panel before. We want a panel which represent young people from all over the island of Ireland and that’s YOU!
Members join for a term of one year (Jan 2025 to Dec 2025) and the time commitment within that term would be minimal to make sure its manageable around a busy school schedule. Meetings would occur online on the third Tuesday of every month between Jan-June 2025, from 18:00 to 18:45. That’s only 6 meetings between now and summer!
Plus, as a member, you get priority access to all of our creative opportunities like attending summer camps, open mic events and publishing stories in our Irish Times Supplement. Participation in all of which is 100% FREE!
In the panel meetings you would gain valuable experience in many aspects of the arts. You would be able to give active input into current and future policies, projects and partnerships across both charities; your words will cause real change.
There would also be other optional engagements across the year so you can get the most out of your membership. This includes our annual summer trip to meet up with the panel in person; meetings with Fighting Words and Fighting Words NI staff to learn about specific jobs; and attending board meetings to feed directly into the decisions we make to ensure that the future of young people is in your own hands.
This application should be filled out with a parent/guardian who will be asked to sign at the end.
To sign up, fill in our application form here: https://forms.office.com/e/1hR4sjnFji
If you would like to ask any questions or request any support with your application, please email Emma at community@fightingwords.co.uk or Mark at mark@fightingwords.ie. Please copy in your parent/guardian to your emails.
