Young Panchayat
Young Panchayat
Young Panchayat is the name of the A Team Arts Education Youth Forum. Panch means five in Sanskrit – we chose that name because there were originally five members, which has since expanded. The Panchayat, a system of governance originating from the Indian subcontinent, is responsible for administering decisions at a local level.
We are a dynamic group of young people aged 14-18 who love making art and meeting people; where leadership, creativity and collaboration come together. We develop essential soft skills while shaping arts projects that matter to our communities and us. We create a sense of ownership and accountability among our members, preparing us for the life of art university and work. We meet regularly with the A Team staff to have our say in planning future projects.
How to get involved:
Join A Team Arts as a participant and take part in our exciting art projects to see if you enjoy what we do.
Young people aged 14-19 can join our Young Panchayat.
Members commit ourselves to a year of membership and meet once a month. We all have responsibilities and roles including:
Chair
Vice Chair
Communications and Social Media
Events Lead
Outreach and Partnership Lead
Fundraising
Currently, we are working towards setting up a craft-making enterprise that prepares us for producing quality handmade items for sale. The money raised will help fund our future projects and support the Dream Garden.
Our Events
Play Fair, May 2026
Badge Making Workshop and Market Research
Our most recent and memorable initiative was the Play Fair Event in Hackney Bridge, where young leaders took charge of designing and facilitating a badge making workshop alongside a stall selling cards and badges produced by the group. The focus was fair trade, ethical consumerism and overall market trends, establishing a foundation for our craft enterprise in the future.
‘Mothers and Daughters and Sons’ Event, March 2026
Celebrating Women’s History Month
We supported this event by leading creative workshop activities that ranged from printing paisley Boteh designs, hand embroidery, collaging, and badge making. We welcomed young people with their female relatives to spend time making art, chatting, and being together.
We also launched our ‘Foster a Plant’ campaign, supported by our amazing gardener Tahmina. Currently, these healthy plants are being returned and replanted in our balcony garden, the Dream Garden.
Winter Celebrations, December 2025
We decorated the Brady Centre with fabric garlands and picked some fun activities for the morning, like the Mindfulness project. It’s all about handcrafts and taking things slowly. We also made cards for family and friends using beautiful Indian printing blocks and collage.
After enjoying pizza, delicious salads, snacks and cakes, the games began! We had pass-the-parcel, musical chairs, a piñata, a photo booth, and board games. One of our members made the piñata, and breaking it open was quite a challenge. But it was a blast and we did a fantastic job together. Eventually, the piñata exploded and everyone quickly grabbed all the sweets!
This year, two prizes were awarded to recognise student achievements. The well-deserved winners were Noor and Maprua.
Just to let you know, this is an annual event and we can’t wait for the piñata challenge again next year!
Youth Forum Movie Nights, November 2025
We decided on the movies for a film screening, followed by a catwalk to showcase costumes inspired by our favourite films and all the hard work everyone put in.
Participants were encouraged to dress up, with a competition for the best costume. The following winners received prizes for their amazing costumes:
1st: Moynul
2nd: Nafisah
3rd Victoria
Crafting Connections: Carpentry Skills, October 2025
During the Autumn half term, we worked with environmental artist Nick Booth to design a new planter and bench for our Dream Garden. We started with sketching ideas, then 3D model making. Then, we voted on the design that best suited our requirements which was a planter and a bench combined: the seat can be folded away when not in use – ideal for the small balcony space.
We all put in a lot of effort to bring our designs to life. We are very proud of everyone’s input, spending hours outdoors cutting, sanding, and drilling. It was challenging, but we found that time flew by when working hard and having fun.
We’re really excited seeing our hard work pay off and seeing the planter arrive at the Brady Centre. We can’t wait to plant next year’s crops!
Open House Festival, September 2025
For this event, we wanted to kick off A Team’s Autumn term and encourage our peers to come by planning activities that were a hit during the summer, and share these fun activities with the Open House visitors. We had badge making, collage and card making, cyanotype, and planting with our favourite gardener Tahmina who helped prepare our winter crop growing.
For more information, please get in touch by filling in the contact form below.