ABOUT US

Literature Charity Working in Combined Arts Developing Young Writers and Creatives

Young Identity is a Manchester-based literature and performance arts charity. Through our Creating Connections, Creating Pathways, and Creating Exchange programs, we provide opportunities for marginalised youth to excel creatively locally, nationally and internationally. We nurture, develop and champion the voices and creativity of diverse young people through literature, writing and performance.

Our Story

Young Identity, affectionally known as ‘YI’ started with a group of young poets from Manchester led by poet and author Shirley May. In 2006, they entered Apples and Snakes’ national poetry slam “Word Cup”. On the project, they met actor, director and artist Ali Gadema who helped to establish Young Identity’s first and founding collective ‘Inna Voice’. After Word Cup ended they started running weekly workshops in Moss Side Millennium Powerhouse, as a space for the young poets to continue to meet and write together.

As volunteers, we began writing and performing workshops for the local community, in particular for writers who were underrepresented in the Manchester literature sector. For years we committed to a weekly schedule of workshops and became a group that budding artists would strive to be a part of. Through our partnerships, we were able to offer performance opportunities with organisations around the city. It became immediately clear that something special was happening – a platform for young people to use their voices to articulate their journey with identity, locally and globally. Over the years we have had many different voices within the project, lots who have gone on to become recognised voices diversifying the cultural sector and further afield.

In 2018, with the support of a new board of trustees and a young people’s steering group, we became a charitable incorporated organisation which has now grown in ways we couldn’t even begin to imagine, all from a family-run volunteer project that started almost 20 years ago, that all believed in changing their community. Young Identity began with 15 young people and today is made up of hundreds of young participants from all across Greater Manchester and beyond; taking part in weekly writing and performance workshops, devising poetic productions, accessing high-quality creative opportunities and so much more.

Our Mission

We redefine poetry for a contemporary age, creating the poets and wordsmiths of the present and future. We do this through a youth-led, community-rooted, universally accessible and innovative form of poetry and performance practice and in turn, promote this unique work across the UK and internationally.

We will provide young people – particularly those from protected characteristics and underrepresented backgrounds with the tools, confidence, skills and platforms to fulfil their potential.

Our vision is a world in which every young person is equipped with the creativity, confidence and self-expression gained through the practice of poetry and performance.

Our Values

  • Empathy We listen first

  • Equality We strive for an equal society

  • Diversity We value difference

  • Inclusivity We include the excluded

  • Quality We develop our participants to aim for excellence

  • Collaboration We learn from one another, our partners and our participants

  • Sustainability We advocate and act

Creating Pathways

Our Creating Pathways program broadens learning for Young Identity members by offering pathways in youth governance, event production, publishing and workshop facilitation.

Associates

Trustees

Adeola Adelakun
Tolu Agbelusi
Faz Babur

Ekua Bayunu
Nasima Begum
Dr. Lis Cordingley

Jonathan McGrath
Emma Mould
Udy Ondwudike
Rosie Stuart

Jonah Earle
Lucy Jackson
Sylvia Lee