watch top thinkers explore how children can change the world in 2021

The Conversation has long been committed to elevating the voices of young people, especially through our Curious Kids series. We were delighted to extend the discussion on how children can change the world with a recent live-streamed event on March 10 2021, held in partnership with the State Library of Queensland. Watch it below.

Children and young people have been engaging in potent storytelling for centuries – think Anne Frank and, more recently, Malala Yousafzai, Greta Thunberg and Zach Doomadgee. And yet too often adults minimise children’s voices by saying they are too young to have a useful perspective or should “stick to being kids”.

In this video, Associate Professor Sandra Phillips from the University of Queensland, Professor Kate Douglas from Flinders University, and Dr Gai Lindsay from the University of Wollongong discuss how art and storytelling make for culturally-engaged and empowered children, and how connecting with young people’s stories and perspectives can promote change.

Chaired by Dr Barbara Piscitelli AM, researcher and founder-collector of the Children’s Art Archive, the discussion covers children as artists, storytellers and cultural citizens, as well as representations of children in literature, their resilience in the face of abuse and danger, and the power of young people’s voices.