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ReGeneration Summer Jam

By Billy Matheson
Last month 120 young leaders from around New Zealand gathered at the Living Springs conference centre near Governors Bay. The week long retreat was called ReGeneration Summer Jam and is the third national youth event of it’s kind run by the group since 2009.

Most of the young people who attend Summer Jam are already active in organising events, projects and campaigns in their schools and communities. Others are actively involved in supporting local leaders and organisations with existing initiatives. Summer Jam provides a space for these young leaders to network, learn new skills and take some time for personal development so that they can take the work that they are doing to the next level.

Many people are surprised to learn that young New Zealanders have one of the highest rates of volunteering and community service in the world. But if you think about young people they naturally have a positive outlook and often express strong ideals and opinions about how the world and society should be. So you’ll be pleased to know that there are all these great young kiwi’s who are already taking positive action around the country. What seems to happen is that somewhere in the transition from secondary school a whole lot of other pressures start to impact on our lives. We need to get a job, a degree, a car, set up a flat, travel and all the other things that define adulthood in this society.

ReGeneration is an independent youth led initiative and was launched with support from the Tindall Foundation, the Enviroschools Foundation, and the New Zealand Council for Educational Research. The goal of the project is to support young New Zealanders as they transition from secondary education into work, further study, and volunteering or community development.

Informing the project is the simple idea that people can and do work together to create positive change in the society, in the environment and in ourselves.

The event is called a Jam because a bit like an improvised musical jam, everyone brings their unique voice, skills and energy to the event but unlike a conventional conference format it is not all rehearsed and polished. But neither is it chaos. Like jazz musicians who have been working and playing together for a while we’re improvising and it works because everyone is in it together and all the participants have to be awake to what is unfolding rather than relying on someone telling them what to play.

Each day starts with a series of short seminars from some of the more experienced members of the ReGeneration network, then the rest of the day is spent in longer workshops on a diverse range of topics, projects and skills. Throughout the day participants spend time in groups of varying size, from the whole group of 120, through to workshops of 20 people, to a daily ‘homegroup’ of 7-8 people. This creates a range of social spaces and builds participants ability to work in different contexts.

This years Summer Jam included workshops on youth work, diversity, leadership, film making, public narrative, climate change, beach clean ups, engaging with local government, flax weaving, sustainable resource use, global poverty, and how to create and manage your own projects. Participants also go out and about, climbing the Port Hills and helping out with some habitat restoration.

A big focus for the Jam is regional action planning. This is time at the end of the event where participants can develop ideas for new projects they want to see happen in their communities.

A lot of the planning at this years Jam centered on the ReGeneration Roadtrip. For the first half of this year 10 youth and community workers from the ReGeneration network are volunteering their time and energy to go on a nationwide tour. They will be on the road for five months visiting schools, meeting with community groups and hosting youth retreats and workshops in each region. Participants at Summer Jam helped develop action plans for their region and will be supporting the Roadtrip crew when they come to town.

The first ReGeneration event involved 55 young leaders meeting at the Tauhara Centre near Taupo. 95 people participated in last year’s Summer Jam at Living Springs and the organisers were delighted to see the momentum growing at this years event. Hopefully what ever the ReGeneration crew decide to do next summer will bigger and brighter and better again. Grow you good things!

Anyone interested in learning more about the ReGeneration project, Summer Jam or the ReGeneration Roadtrip should check out the ReGeneration website at www.regeneration.org.nz

Billy Matheson is an Industrial Designer by training and has over a decade of experience in supporting the learning and development of young adults. He has worked as a designer, a university and polytechnic lecturer, a writer, a faciliator and consultant and is the founder and co-convener of the ReGeneration project. Email [email protected]

Tags: regeneration, Youth