The One Percent — York Mediale

Commissions

The One Percent

May - October 2018

The One Percent was an innovative digital arts campaign delivered by Inspired Youth in partnership with York Mediale and driven by the voices of young people living in York.

Inspired Youth’s Director and award-winning filmmaker Kev Curran and York-based Hip Hop artist Kritikal Powers brought together a group of young people on different stages of the care journey to create spoken word performances on film.

The result was a powerful documentary designed to challenge stereotypes and replace limitations with expectations – raising the aspirations of children leaving care.

“All young people should have the opportunities to nurture their creativity and talents, and it is exciting to see how York Mediale is using media to highlight social issues facing young adults in society today. It is fantastic that these young people are using this media to raise political demands, and it is wise that politicians listen carefully and engage with their agenda; I certainly will.”

Rachael Maskell

York Central MP

The atmosphere in York’s Everyman Cinema was absolutely incredible and the audience were left stunned by the power of the young peoples’ storytelling. The film raises awareness about the issues facing care experienced young people setting out on their journey into independence and highlighted the Children’s Society campaign to exempt care leavers from paying council tax to give them a fairer start in life.

The One Percent — York Mediale
The One Percent — York Mediale
The One Percent — York Mediale

“To expect some of the country’s most vulnerable young people to start paying council tax just days after leaving care is setting them up to fail. That’s why The Children’s Society has been calling on local authorities to exempt care leavers from paying council tax up until the age of 25. We have seen evidence that this is a real issue for many of the 53,000 young people under 25 estimated to be care leavers.”

Sam Royston

The Children’s Society

The One Percent relates to a national statistic that 1% of children are looked after by the care system. This 1% are consistently compared negatively against the remaining 99%, fuelling lower expectations, compounding lower academic achievement and higher incidence of criminal convictions and higher rates of homelessness.