The Into the Outside Youth Collective is a creative collective of young people from Brighton & Hove aged 13-25 identifying as LGBTQ+.
The young people took part in a bespoke training programme where they developed research skills, and learnt about the role and function of archives, as well as how to gather oral histories. Photography and creative writing workshops have also been a key part of the programme.
Together they visited exhibitions in London, documented and participated in Brighton Photo Biennial, Brighton Pride and Trans Pride, ran professional portrait studios and conducted oral history interviews.
All these activities enabled the youth collective to discuss issues and experiences, inspired and informed by what they had learnt. It helped them articulate their ideas and thoughts visually and through spoken and written word.
Engaging with the city’s LGBTQ+ heritage through its museums, libraries and archives has been central to the young people’s learning experiences. The group explored many of the city’s archive collections in depth, including the Brighton Ourstory archive, an extraordinary archive of local LGBTQ+ history that includes club fliers, banners, papers, love letters, photographs, video, and archival records of groups such as the Sussex Gay Liberation Front, and also the National Lesbian and Gay Survey, which forms part of the Mass Observation Archive.
The Collective have been supported by artist Helen Cammock. Helen has many years of experience running high-calibre projects with young people. Her own practice explores representation and relationships between the individual and society.
Each young person in the collective has developed their own personal project.