Your Town, My Town, Our Town

A partnership between Norfolk & Norwich Festival and Breckland District Council, Your Town, My Town, Our Town is a three-year programme artist-led youth engagement in Swaffham – a market town in Norfolk. It forms an integral part of a wider High Street regeneration project, Swaffham – A Historic Market Town which aims to revive the town’s historic high streets and champion its rich character, culture and heritage assets. 

Recognising that local young people are often disconnected from developments and from the social and cultural infrastructure of Swaffham, Norfolk & Norwich Festival has been commissioned to deliver this programme from 2024 to 2027. Through it, we will support and enable Swaffham’s young people to help shape their towns future through a programme of activities that bring their voice to the fore.  

The project aims to put creativity at the heart of how children and young people experience their town by making a space where they can share experiences; create new ones; showcase their talents; and build skills for their futures, all while fostering a deeper connection to their community. Your Town, My Town, Our Town will create a model of youth engagement that will help bring young people’s ideas to the forefront of conversations and planning.

The programme launched in the summer of 2024 and involved a series of co-created explorations, discussions, talks, workshops and creative activities with local young people that led to the creation of a film in which they outlined their views of the town and what they hoped for the future.

The film will be screened to an invited audience of local stakeholders late in 2024 or early in 2025, with a public presence in the town also planned. It is intended the film will help instigate a conversation on how to better integrate young people’s views into future town planning before a second stage to project commences later in the year.

Artists

Mountain Way Pictures

Location

Swaffham, Norfolk

Participants

7-18 years olds

Partners

Historic England, Breckland District Council, Swaffham Town Council and Swaffham Cultural Consortium

Supported by National Lottery Heritage Fund