Youth Week events have been postponed due to requirements to reduce non-essential gatherings.
ACT Youth Week is an important annual opportunity to recognise the contributions of young people in our community. It is an opportunity for us to celebrate our young citizens, and for them to collaborate and connect, and to share their ideas on important issues with the ACT Government.
This year's ACT Youth Week was due to run from Friday 27 March to Sunday 5 April 2020.
In consultation with the ACT Youth Advisory Council, events associated with Youth Week have been cancelled or postponed due to the need for physical distancing measures and restrictions on non-essential gatherings.
A key Youth Week event is the presentation of the Young Canberra Citizen of the Year Awards, which celebrate the contribution of Canberrans aged 12-25 years in a range of areas.
Nominees, nominators and sponsors have been advised that the Young Citizen of the Year Awards ceremony has been postponed until further notice. An award ceremony will be held when it is possible for us to gather again to celebrate the achievements of our young people.
The 2020 ACT Youth Assembly was also due to take place this week, on Friday 3 April. This is an important forum for young people to work together in a deliberative way to provide advice and recommendations to the ACT Government on issues that are important to them.
Given its significance in providing a voice for young people directly to Ministers and Members of the Legislative Assembly, the Youth Assembly has been postponed rather than cancelled at this stage. I want to thank the Youth Advisory Council for its careful consideration of whether to proceed with this forum through virtual means or to postpone.
A range of community events were also due to take place this week, supported by Youth Week Grants. The grant recipients have been informed that their events are unable to proceed as planned. However, the Youth InterACT team will work with grant recipients to vary their events to allow them to be held in a different format, or later in the year.
This is a difficult time for everyone, including for many young people. I look forward to continuing to work with the Youth Advisory Council and our young citizens as we seek new ways to boost our resilience as a city through this emergency and, in due course, start our recovery processes.
