The Rebel Roots Heritage Project
13 November 2019
Fast Forward is really proud of our recent Rebel Roots project, which took place over autumn 2018 to summer 2019. In fact, it’s one of the most unusual projects Fast Forward has ever undertaken.
We’re particularly proud of our young rebels who led the project, exploring the history of local pop music, subcultures and styles. Young people are always at the cutting edge. Since the 1960’s they’ve created their own fashions, their own music and their own scenes. Rebel Roots worked with today’s teenagers to explore what their parents really got up to.
Edinburgh has a special history of rebellion, innovation and energy, from the dance halls of the early 1960’s to the punk explosion of the 1970’s and the acid house parties of the 1980’s and 1990’s.
Our young rebels visited recording studios, tried on vintage clothes, wrote their own songs, saw where classic bands played live and made their own album covers.
They looked at clothes, records, magazines and make-up, from punks and Rastafarians to emo’s and hip-hoppers.
The project was funded through the Heritage Lottery Fund and Fast Forward worked with participants aged 12-20. They were recruited from open access and specialist youth organisations. There were around 2 workshops a month, on Saturday afternoons. Each workshop was delivered by specialist such as a graffiti artist or song writer.
The young rebels visited the national Museum of Scotland’s ‘Rip it Up’ exhibition of Scottish pop and Historic Environment Scotland’s ‘Visible Girls’ exhibition of young women in pop subcultures. We visited Jacqui Burke’s acclaimed Fashion School in Dunbar, Edinburgh’s dance music recording specialists Studio Ember and Spectrum Art’s graffiti workshop in Leith.
As a result of the project our young rebels now have a better understanding of their own local heritage. Moreover, heritage and history now seem like normal things, not just for privileged grown-ups. As the project ended, the young rebels said that their confidence and mental health has seriously improved. They also said they’d developed new skills in art, music, IT and fashion. And eaten far too much pizza.
But most importantly, the young rebels said they now understand that their parents and grandparents were teenagers once too. And faced the same problems.
The young rebels said:
“I’ve found ma tribe”
“I’m getting out ma room and off ma phone”
“I get to meet other freaks”
“Libraries, museums and archives no longer intimating or ‘not for the likes of me’”
“Punks, hippies, ravers and hip-hoppers changed the world. And they were just kids too”
“Maybe I could get into this myself”
The project broke down the barriers between heritage and young people and normalised art and self-expression. It promoted people’s history and we explained to our young rebels that this is their birthright.
Fast Forward would really recommend a youth heritage approach to any organisation working with young people – especially if you’re looking to address a range of health and well-being indicators. Our young rebels loved it once they were involved and hooked.
Moreover, the heritage is out there. It just needs to be accessed. Heritage organisations (museums, libraries, castles, archives, collections) are really keen to do more community outreach work, particularly with young people. They need you!
However, there are challenges to running a youth work heritage project. The heritage and youth work sectors have somewhat different priorities. With youth work it’s clearly to develop and support young people.
With heritage, it’s to look after and explain our shared heritage. So both sides have to compromise. Moreover, heritage spaces can sometimes be old and gloomy.
Young people need breaks, food, refreshment and time to muck about. And pizza. Risk assessments will need to address both youth work and heritage issues. Some museums will want you to manage any disruptive behaviour effectively.
We’d really like to hear from you if have any plans for a youth work and
heritage project. It helps to think about the sources of local heritage that are close to you. How could this approach help your organisation fulfill its objectives? Get in touch if you want to share our learning and evaluations