Youth Panel

Our Youth Panel, for young people aged 14 – 18, offers collective work experience opportunities across The MERL and Reading Museum as part of Museums Partnership Reading’s youth programme. We meet monthly to work on a variety of exciting projects which are great for developing a range of transferable skills. Our panel members influence current projects and programming and are change-makers within Reading’s culture and heritage sector.

From Autumn 2025 onwards, our Youth Panel will contribute to Agroforestry Futures, a project which focuses on how combining tree-growing with agriculture can improve rural livelihoods.

The Agroforestry Futures project is a collaboration of art and anthropology and explores how the public can be engaged in sustainable futures for farming and land use.

As our Youth Panel, you will be reflecting on these themes of forests, farming, climate, and colonial history through artistic and sensory methods (e.g. collage, sound, drawing, and archive encounters).

As inspiration, we will focus on the Wonky Wall Hanging, a collaboratively developed fabric print, that was exhibited in the major exhibition ‘Grounding Truths: Alternative Landscapes for Agroforestry Futures’ at The Sill, the National Landscape Discovery Centre, in Northumberland.

Sessions will include creative reflection, critical dialogue, and planning for an exhibition.

This will be a continuation for the Youth Panel, as members took part in participatory workshops in 2024. The project is funded by UKRI (UK Research and Innovation).

Upcoming Dates (third Thursday of the month held at The MERL, 4.30 pm – 6 pm)

• Thursday 18 September
• Thursday 16 October
• Thursday 20 November

For more information on how to join, please contact merlevents@reading.ac.uk