Young Producer Residential 2022

In November 2022, our Young Producers went away for an exciting residential weekend. We were joined young people who used to work for Shout Out Loud in placement positions, and some members of the Shout Out Loud team. Based all over the country, this was a great opportunity for everyone to come together and meet in person, and to all wear our excellent new yellow hats.

The Young Producers with SOL hats at a castle

The weekend was packed full with visiting English Heritage sites, activities and fascinating discussions. We kicked off the weekend with stargazing at Stonehenge with exclusive access to the stones at night, which included getting up close to the stone circle with a personalised guided tour! This was followed by a stargazing session led by an expert astronomer where we saw the moon, Jupiter and Jupiter’s moons through a telescope, and spotted some constellations.

Stonehenge is such a unique place and is perhaps the world’s most famous prehistoric monument, so the opportunity to have exclusive access to the site and get so close to the stone circle was truly special. It is also an incredible place for stargazing as we know that the positions of the stones are linked to the sun. Our ancestors must have put great importance on what they could see in the sky.

Young Producers in front of Stonehenge at night

On the second day, we visited Farleigh Hungerford Castle, home of the Hungerford family for 300 years – a family who suffered quite a series of scandals and disasters! We learned about the site’s history and discovered its unusual collection of anthropoid (human-shaped) coffins in the crypt. We then thought about the conservation and interpretation of this site, and other historic sites around the world. In a discussion around truth and authenticity in heritage, we considered questions like ‘what is the best way to tell a site’s story?’, and ‘how authentic is it to reconstruct parts of a site that have been damaged or lost?’

As the weekend fell on bonfire night, we just had to head to a nearby bonfire and fireworks event that evening!

For our third and final day, we had brunch with a special guest – Tori Tsui, where we heard all about her work as a climate activist and mental health advocate. As a young person who is making change about causes she cares about, Tori was inspiring yet relatable, and it was so valuable to be able to get to know her and ask lots of questions.

The weekend was a chance to reflect on and celebrate the amazing work our Young Producers and placements have done over the last few years of Shout Out Loud. From creating Instagram posts to being part of focus groups, to creating an LGBTQ+ tour at an English Heritage site, Shout Out Loud wouldn’t be the same without them.