“Our aim is to give a high quality platform, and to engage in different forms of dialogue”. As the project administrator for Kettle’s Yard’s upcoming Paint what matters exhibition, Letty Pilgrim simply exudes passion and excitement about displaying the work of young people, giving them the chance to be heard and seen. The gallery is currently advertising their open call for submissions for any 2D art from children and young people who live or study in Cambridge, to be displayed to the public in early 2025. Letty wants Cambridge’s youth to use this exhibition as an opportunity to “build their creative confidence and experiment with new skills”.

‘Project administrator’ feels a strangely clinical title for Letty’s role; she is bubbling over with enthusiasm, rather than quietly handling emails from behind a desk. ‘Curator’ wouldn’t be accurate though, she tells me. The project has absolutely no curatorial process, but is rather functioning on a first come first serve basis.

“Participants are exploring and problematising issues on global, local, and personal scales”

The all-accepting nature of the exhibition is key to its impact, though. Letty describes it as “non-hierarchical”, emphasising how important to her it is that everyone has the opportunity to have their work on the gallery walls. “I think it’s really cool you could have your artwork on the very same walls as the leading contemporary artists,” she continues. Anyone from the ages of 4 to 21, living or studying in Cambridge can take her up on that very opportunity. “Everyone will be included,” she summarises simply.

As we begin to chat about the submissions that she’s already received, Letty’s responses are fuelled by children and young adults’ ambitions for a changing world. Through their work, participants are exploring and problematising issues of climate crisis, political worries, and much more on global, local, and personal scales. “It’s always a bit of a surprise … a positive surprise!” Letty muses. I gather that the scope of work she has already been has been an insight into the fire fuelling young people to get involved — there’s potential for everyone to make a difference, even if the difference is a small or slight one.

“She wants the walls of Kettle’s Yard to be flooded with art, hope, and ambition”

Letty was keen to stress that this is an exhibition for everyone to be involved in, not just those in the younger half of the specified age bracket. University students in Cambridge are more than welcome to join in. With no fine art degrees or the like on offer, this is one of very few opportunities students’ have to get their work properly celebrated. The hectic nature of a term at Cambridge can get even the most upbeat of us down sometimes, so taking time out of the chaos to create something visual will surely be a welcome respite for all. As I sat on the phone in the soundproof cubicle of the Seeley and gazed out at a library full of students hard at work, I couldn’t help but wish that some of them would take Letty up on her offer to do something fun and free for once.

The open call will provide “an element of space to breathe” for those who are bogged down with work, giving them the “space to think and create” beyond their academic work. As students here, we are almost constantly surrounded by voices of protest and activism, but Letty explains how this exhibition will “open up conversations in a new kind of way, allowing young people to express their voice” individually, without competition or judgement.

Letty summarises her experience on the project so far simply as a “real joy”. Finding voices for young people, entirely beyond academia, judgement, or hierarchy is an important concept, and one that Letty is keenly aware of. We wrap up by talking about how the art will be displayed in the gallery, and whilst she isn’t entirely sure, she does know that she wants the walls of Kettle’s Yard to be “flooded with art, hope, and ambition”. This quite neatly summarises my understanding of the exhibition: an opportunity to do something joyful, meaningful, and creative, for all of Cambridge’s youth.

For more information about submitting work, and to find details of Kettle’s Yard’s criteria, see: https://www.kettlesyard.cam.ac.uk/open-call-guidelines/.