EC Meeting Papers January 2019

Proposal of Event Outline and Process of Implementation

Political Festival & GFTU Competition “Poli-Fest”

Alison Stoecker Matteo Bergamini

Office of John McDonnell

Shout Out UK

Concept: A one day festival where schools come together at a venue (university?) of our choosing for a day of workshops, debates and events. Youth wings of each major party, MPs, industry and organisations are be invited to offer workshops and talks relevant to the theme of that year (2019, Collective Voice). Sessions might consist of a Trade Union or law firm giving talks about how to access free legal advice (including employment, housing, debt management etc.). Other examples of contributors might include; Housing Cooperatives, Apprenticeship providers, Social Enterprises, Credit Unions, financial services information (e.g. Money Saving Expert, Martin Lewis), FE providers, Environmental Organisations and Charities. Each day, will be full of political, trade union and media orientated workshops intermingled around the knock-out sessions for School Student Union Competition. The afternoon session would involve a Channel 4 style Youth Leaders’ Debate and the Competition Final with the day culminating in a live performance from a contemporary artist. The competition could be used as a marketing tool for the festival and vice versa, with the festival used to mark a dynamic end of the competition and the school year. This strategy creates a mutually beneficial, symbiotic relationship between all stakeholders. Initially the competition would be a one day event, with the view to model it around the Denmark festival Folkemodet – The People’s Political Festival, run over several days, with different schools attending each day to eventually accommodate up to 1,000 students per day. This event is inspired by Almedal Week in the town of Visby, Gotland in Sweden. The Social Need: According to the Hansard Society, people belonging to groups that are under-represented in politics are more likely to feel that they have little influence over politics and are less likely to participate in formal politics. Young people, poor people (80% of population) and BAME people fall into this category. We currently have no statutory political, economic or environmental literacy education in school. We are tackling this issue by providing a political literacy course in secondary schools which incorporates all these elements. Once the academic year comes to an end we'd love to bring the schools we are working in for further workshops, alongside politicians, partners and activists to practice and develop on what they have learned.