Flinders academic Professor Kate Douglas is participating in a panel about developing children as active citizens through art and storytelling as part of The Conversation/State Library of Queensland series of events.

Children and young people have been engaging in potent storytelling for centuries, yet too often adults minimise children’s voices by saying they are too young to have a useful perspective or they should “stick to being kids”.

Professor Douglas will be joined by Sandra Phillips (University of Queensland) and Gai Lindsay (University of Wollongong) to discuss how art and storytelling make for culturally-engaged and empowered children, and how connecting with young people’s stories and perspectives can promote change.

The event will be broadcast live on 10 March. Bookings for audiences to connect can be made free through Eventbrite. It will then be available on YouTube, Facebook and our website. These events attract large audiences over the space of a month – with the previous event reaching about 10,000 listeners.

This discussion is linked to Big Voices, an exhibition at the State Library of Queensland which celebrates the power of children to express themselves through art and features paintings and drawings from the renowned Dr Barbara Piscitelli AM Children’s Art Archive.