Youth on Youth

VIEW PROJECT GALLERY

When young people form different backgrounds have little or no opportunity to mix and socialise, their attitudes can be easily influenced by, amongst others, what they read in the newspapers and what they are told by others. In this climate, negative stereotypes are accepted based on ignorance and fear. Youth on Youth gave two groups of white and Asian heritage young people the opportunity to explore their individual and collective attitudes towards each other through drama and film making.

The project was a partnership involving Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council Youth Services and was funded by The European Regional Development Fund. The project took place over several months at Action Factory, on location in Blackburn and at Lumbutts Residential Centre in Todmorden.

To quote Laura, one of the 20 participants - "Youth on Youth is about merging two totally different groups of young people in the Blackburn with Darwen area and understanding why such problems as prejudice and racism happen in the towns. This film is a document of how both groups came to understand and discover each other. There are a series of short dramas that show the basic understanding about the issues that were raised during the group meetings and the residential." The film is a journey of discovery, learning and the creation of new friendships by a group of young people who, had they not had the opportunity would today have distored views about each other.