ELECTION imagines children as bigwig decision-makers with the power to make real change. A group of eleven-year-olds in fake moustaches deliver a political manifesto, offering a child’s perspective on what is valuable in the world. They want to end war, lower food prices, and tax the rich - and they also want no school ever.
ELECTION by Bishop May Down was commissioned by the North Edinburgh Arts Youth Arts Collective (NE YAC), as part of our Creative Encounters project. A cast of children from North Edinburgh performed the production at the North Edinburgh Community Festival and the Edinburgh International Children’s Festival Family Day 2025.
Creative team:
- Bishop May Down - Lead Artist
- Hussein Mitha - Workshop Facilitator
- Mamoru Iriguchi - Designer
- Farah Saleh - Rehearsal Support
Research & Development
ELECTION was commissioned by and co-created with the North Edinburgh Arts Youth Arts Collective (NE YAC). Children shortlisted applications from artists and invited their shortlist for a pitching session and workshop. Through this process, they selected ELECTION as their commission.
In order to develop the script for the performance, Bishop May Down and Hussein Mitha delivered a series of workshops with NE YAC. They explored political speeches by real-life politicians and made their own manifestos, which were used to write the performance script. Young people from NE YAC and local primary schools were cast for the performance, and they consulted on the script during rehearsals, adding their own ideas to the final performance.
“In the YAC we chose an artist, Bishop May Down, to make a performance called ELECTION. It was about how politics work, we got ideas from all the kids and we put it all into one script. We performed it at the North Edinburgh Community Festival and at the Children’s Festival at the Museum, and here at NEA too. I was nervous to perform in front of a big crowd but I got through it.” - NE YAC member
