INTRODUCING
THE CALEDONIA SCHOOL OF SPEECH WRITING

The first Caledonia School of Speech Writing culminates in a fireside discussion on the power of words in enhancing democracy with Robert Myles, Gerald Richards, Junaid Ashraf and Laura Westring, before eight young speechwriters take to the stage. Funded by the Alfred Landecker Foundation in partnership with Humanity in Action and supported by the University of Stirling Arts and Humanities Faculty. GERALD RICHARDS is the CEO of the Super Power Agency (superpoweragency.com). He is also the founder at B & G, a new consulting firm based in London and Edinburgh helping organisations and individuals flourish through creativity, coaching, organisational development and storytelling. From 2010 – 2017, Gerald was the CEO of 826 National, where he led the strategic direction, administration and building of resources for the network of affiliate organisations located in eight US cities, as well the establishment of affiliates in additional US and international cities. With more than twenty-five years of management and development experience at local and national nonprofit organisations, Gerald is a respected trainer and sought after speaker on topics of youth development, writing, creativity, and education access. Gerald was awarded the 2016 News Corp Community Hero Award and is a fellow in the Pahara-Aspen Institute Education Fellowship. Originally from Harlem, NYC, Gerald has a BA in Film Studies from Wesleyan University and an MFA in Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. ROBERT MYLES (robmyles.co.uk) is an actor-writer-director and creative consultant, creator of The Shakespeare Deck and co-creator of The Show Must Go Online, while moonlighting as an historical adventure novelist. His specialism is in Shakespeare, which he both performs and directs, as well as offering products and workshops to help people engage meaningfully with his work. When not working in theatre, Robert offers creative support to innovation projects, including new product development, branding and claims, and capabilities. In 2020, he directed 37 plays in 36 weeks, working with over 500 actors and creatives from 60 countries. JUNAID ASHRAF (junaid-ashraf.com) is an experienced advocate for youth empowerment and has represented Cumbernauld as a Councillor since 2017. Starting his career as a member of the Scottish Youth Parliament, Junaid launched the “Care. Fair. Share.” campaign to increase support for young carers across Scotland. He then focused on promoting mental health awareness and created a successful youth forum. As an environmental enthusiast, Junaid attended the United Nations COP22 environmental conference in Morocco and has advocated for the climate change emergency to be declared within his local authority. He has also used his position as a Councillor to support poverty action groups, deaf service organisations and BAME sports youth groups. Junaid has led on equalities campaigns nationally and has previously volunteered as a trustee of Equal Scotland. His career has led him to represent Scotland in Rwanda as part of an interfaith program, attend the U.S. Embassy’s Young Leader’s exchange program in Washington D.C. and advocate in the House of Commons for 16-year-olds to vote in all UK elections. LAURA WESTRING (westringwrites.com) is a writer, speech writing instructor and Senior Strategic Communications and Culture Manager at Amiqus, a tech for good company. During her EU career her work to help young women gain positive leadership skills was recognised by Barack Obama when the White House requested that she introduce the President’s Address to European Youth during his 2014 visit to Brussels. Laura’s speech made headlines and later that year she became the youngest political speechwriter at the European Commission. Ronald de Bruin included a chapter about her impact in his book Twenty-First Century Leadership for EU Institutions. After the EU membership referendum in 2016, Laura returned to Scotland to work with profit for purpose companies. She believes trends in speech making are an important indication of the health of our democracy and occasionally provides news commentary. Laura is a trustee of the John Byrne Award and an inaugural Alfred Landecker Democracy fellow. #SpeechWritingSchool #CSOS2021 #LandeckerFellow www.speechwritingschool.com

On 26 March 2014, the eyes of the world were on the US and President Barack Obama during the Crimean crisis. On an official visit to the EU institutions, the President gave a speech entitled 'Address to European Youth' at the BOZAR theatre in Brussels. To the surprise of many, a young civil servant and community organiser was given four minutes to introduce the President, the one man who needed no introduction.

In its inaugural year, the Caledonia School of Speech Writing will offer eight young people the opportunity to take part in a three-day online summer school on the art of speech writing. Funded by the Alfred Landecker Foundation, in partnership with Humanity in Action, the school will provide a unique opportunity for young people to learn and practice how to speak publicly with skill and confidence. The goal of the school is to encourage young people to speak out about the causes which matter to them most on their journey to becoming the energetic, empathetic leaders of our communities.