Springboard’s youth-led Our Lives, Our Legacy programme provided an opportunity for young people from across communities, who are living with the legacy of conflict, and all of whom were born after the Good Friday Agreement, to interrogate the Agreement’s legacy, its impact on their lives and explore their shared hopes for the future. Learning over 12 months included discussing the Troubles, listening to different community perspectives, understanding the process and lead-up to the Good Friday Agreement, and hearing from people who voted yes or no.
This experience has now been developed into Our Lives, Our Legacy – the Film.
Immersive Exhibition
Also, as part of the young people’s programme, they also co-created an immersive exhibition and performance in Crumlin Road Gaol, Belfast. The experience involved three rooms.
The first room served as a visceral reminder of the turmoil, violence, pain and division that characterized the Troubles, with the audience met on all sides by the sights, sounds and words of the time.
Moving to Room two, the audience engaged with multimedia presentations and interactive displays of the Good Friday Agreement. Its promise and hope of better times, an end to violence and the build up to the referendum vote. Young people set up a voting booth to enable members to vote again 25 years on or, for a new generation, to vote ‘yes or no’ for the first time. The tellers counted the votes which resulted amazingly close to the original referendum outcome, with 76% in favour.
In the final act of the event, in the third room, the audience was met with the realities of the present day for young people and how they perceived the legacy of the Good Friday Agreement 25 years later. Young people spoke of the stark challenges and impacts of living in a post-conflict society. Their strong views were that the promise and hopes of the Good Friday Agreement had not been fully delivered, as expressed through the persistence of prejudice, segregation, as well as social and economic division.
Shared Journey
Young people also recognised their shared journey on the Our Lives, Our Legacy programme, where over a year, they challenged each other, increased understanding of each other, worked together to become more aware of their interdependence, where difference was respected and they were united by the values and aspirations they share.