Although distances in the Netherlands are relatively small, and rural life here is not usually associated with poverty, the voices of rural youth are often politically and socially marginalised or even completely ignored. Art and arts education can play a crucial role in amplifying and empowering these voices. However, it's not just about using art; as artists and educators, we must also consider how to respectfully honour these voices once they are heard. By first truly listening to rural youth, we aim to encourage artists and educators to explore how they can best support these voices.

Using the Story Circle method and Inclusivity Pathway Training (IPT), we engaged both young people and their teachers in this process. Daan den Hertog and Lola de Winter, who collaborated on their MA Arts Education graduation research, joined us to explore how arts education can contribute to amplifying the voices of rural youth. Together with researchers Antine Zijlstra (NHL Stenden), Nathalie van Barneveld (ROC van Twente), and Camiël Kesser (Social Justice and Diversity in the Arts research group), we investigated the use of IPT and Story Circles to facilitate these conversations.

What does it mean to be from a rural area? We explored this question with young people from various educational levels: secondary school (Johannus Fontanus College Barneveld), vocational college (ROC van Twente), and university (NHL Stenden Leeuwarden). The views on this vary greatly. As students grow older, they think more consciously about their rural backgrounds, particularly when they move away for further education or make other career choices. The students shared their experiences through a video love letter, expressing their affection for their region, and discussed these in a podcast where they reflected on their learning experiences during this project.

The students from NHL Stenden developed a workbook on creating a video love letter, intended to assist students at the ROC and secondary school in making their own video love letters in the future. We concluded the project with a working conference in Twente, where we invited those working with young people to discover our findings and experience first-hand the power of using IPT and Story Circles to engage with youth.