Your say / Opinion
‘I have never felt unsafe in Bristol. I have never felt like I didn’t deserve to be part of it’
I was recently fortunate enough to spend some time with a group of young people from City Academy in Bristol.
We talked a lot about Bristol.
About their favourite places to go.
is needed now More than ever
The parts they love.
The parts they hate.
The places they’d never been to before.
Places where they didn’t feel safe.
We talked about what it felt like to be growing up, in this city, now.
I wish more people had been able to listen.
I am a white, middle-class woman. I am fortunate that I have always felt part of this city. Like I belonged here, like I deserved the opportunities I’ve had, like I was entitled to everything Bristol had to offer. I have never felt unsafe. I have never felt like I didn’t deserve to be part of it.
I have been unaware of the fact that not everyone’s experiences of Bristol are this positive. It hasn’t affected me so I haven’t needed to care. Not deeply anyway. And that’s pretty rubbish. That’s not really good enough anymore.
Listening to those young people it was apparent that they don’t feel respected in their own city.
They don’t feel valued.
I think if a city does not value their young people. If it does not invest in them, it cannot expect to be part of their future. And that is a great shame.
As someone who is living in Bristol now, I am incredibly excited to share this city with these awesome young people. They are fiercely intelligent; they will shape this city for the better, if we allow them the chance to feel part of it.
Julia Head is a Bristol-based theatre maker and director who works extensively with Bristol Old Vic’s engagement department. She is part of the Bristol Old Vic Young Directors scheme, an associate artist of Fen, Propolis, Twisted Theatre and Sharp Teeth Theatre and recently received the Henry Augustine Forse Award for her exceptional contribution to engagement. She was the assistant director on Bristol Old Vic Young Company’s summer show T***k You and is currently working as a director in collaboration with Headlong Theatre.
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
