InsideOUT is excited to announce their national rainbow youth hui, Shift, will be running again this month. The hui follows on from the success of Shift 2016 and aims to bring young people of minority sexes, sexualities and genders from all over the country together.
“Shift provides a unique opportunity for young people in our community to come together and be in a space where they are completely free to be themselves. They are given the opportunity to learn skills and tools to take back to improve their own schools and communities,” says Tabby Besley, InsideOUT’s National Coordinator.
The hui will take place at Horouta Marae in Porirua from 18th-21st April, during the high-school and university holidays. 60 young people aged 15-21 years old from all over Aotearoa will be there, with another 50 volunteers, many of whom are also youth.
InsideOUT provides a sliding scale for registration so that young people can attend regardless of their financial situation. “It’s important that we give everyone an opportunity to be at Shift Hui,” says Jean Sergent-Shadbolt, the Shift Coordinator for 2017. “We have people from Whangarei to Invercargill attending, and we don’t want people to miss out on this opportunity because of money.”
Shift Hui is a unique opportunity for young people of minority sexes, genders, and sexualities in Aotearoa. “Attending a hui like this has proven for many young people to be a turning point in their journey to discovering and accepting themselves, increasing their confidence and finding support networks and we want to extend that experience to as many people as we can,” says Tabby.
Shift 2017 will provide a wide array of workshops and panels, covering topics such as healthy relationships, Māori and Pasifika queer identities, making schools safer for LGBTI+ youth and leadership and facilitation skills. There will also be creative freestyle afternoons, including workshops on circus skills, spoken word performance, and gender-affirming makeup.
The hui has been made possible with generous support from the Ministry of Youth Development.
A short film on Shift Hui 2016:
