Camley Community Storytellers

Over the last couple of years, we have been honing our approach to working with young people, including offering skills building activities. As part of our work with Ballymore and Lateral for Camden Council, we wrote and delivered a Community Storytellers Programme for 8 local young people aged 16 - 25; it gave them new skills in photography, filmography, poetry, interviewing and journalism - all while they documented life in and around Camley Street, Camden.

Over 10 weeks, our group tackled a whole range of topics, including public speaking; it was fabulous to hear their views and insight on Camley Street now and for the future. We also have two lovely outcomes that celebrate their work right now:

• Artwork for the outdoor gallery in the Camley Street underpass, incorporating 8 gorgeous poems (which you can read here) sharing the Storytellers’ experience of the area now coupled with beautiful photos of the area

• A film that shows all the activities the story tellers took part in and some of their great work

You can also read this interview with one of our Community Storytellers, Ashwathy, to hear her thoughts on the programme. We will be threading all of the Storytellers' insight through the development in the future. We’re incredibly proud of the young people who took part and loved seeing their confidence as well as their skills grow. Here’s some lovely feedback from them:

•  '"I feel like this programme gave young people a voice when we sometimes don't feel like we do"

  
  

• "Extremely grateful to all :) I loved being part of the programme and it’s one of the best parts of 2025 for me!!"

  
  

• “I loved learning how impactful the change to Camley Street will be to the community”

  
  

• “I was nervous about my creative writing skills - but the poetry was my favourite bit!"

  
  

• “I love how inclusive, supportive and exciting the sessions are - 2hrs feel so quick”

So if you are in the area then head down to the underpass gallery on Camley Street to see more poems from our Storytellers!

This is definitely an approach we will be utilising in future projects. We love the idea of flipping the tradition on who gets to tell the story of a place, and embracing the multiple layers of stories that reflect the real complexity of a place.