More information

What’s the Jury for Joy?

The Jury for Joy is a citizens’ jury, which is a way of involving people to make decisions about what happens in their local area.

1. What will I do?

Members of the Jury for Joy will discuss ideas and help decide how money for creative projects in West Cumbria is spent. This will involve discussing issues in depth and learning more about each other’s opinions.

2. How much time does it take?

The Jury for Joy typically meets for two weekends each year.

3. Do I get paid?

Jury members receive a £200 gift in shopping vouchers for participating in each weekend.

Everyone who registers their interest in being part of the Jury for Joy is entered into a civic lottery. This helps ensure the jury reflects the mix of people who live in West Cumbria to help make decisions about what should happen and how things should change.

Why are we using a citizens’ jury model?

We want to include different people in planning and deciding what creative activities happen in our area.

Our jury provides a safe, supportive space where people of all walks of life can come together to learn, talk, review and imagine what a more creative future could look like here in West Cumbria.

We believe local people know what’s best for their place and their voices should be heard. A citizens’ jury gives its members the time and information they need to develop well-informed decisions about where they live.

Why is creativity important?

Creativity is a powerful tool that can add value to people’s lives and inspire change. Creativity can take many forms, from podcasting to pottery, tap dance to TikTok, stitching to singing, and everything in between.

How does selection work?

Everyone who is registered by Tuesday 28th April will be entered into the Jury for Joy Spring 2026 lottery.

This lottery will select participants at random taking into consideration the demographic make-up of West Cumbria. The lottery looks at things like age, gender and postcode to make sure the jury reflects the people who live in West Cumbria. From this process Jury for Joy aims to recruit 15 new members to join the 20 current jury members. All members will then attend the next Jury for Joy sessions taking place on Saturday 30 and Sunday 31^st May.

So, who can register to take part?

• Anyone aged 18 and over who lives at an address in West Cumbria. And when we refer to West Cumbria we mean the old boroughs of Allerdale and Copeland.
• People do not need to have any prior knowledge to take part, they’ll just need to bring themselves, their life experience and a willingness to listen and take part.

There are a small number of people who cannot register to take part. These are:

• Elected politicians
• People who work for political parties
• Some council employees in politically restricted roles
• People who run or manage arts organisations.

The reason these individuals are not eligible is because they already have formal roles in decision-making about arts and culture locally.

What’s it like being on the jury?

Jury members help decide how real money is spent on creative projects in West Cumbria. Jury members are well looked after. Everyone will have their voice heard.

Here’s a peek behind the scenes of our first jury in May 2024:

The jury meets in person twice a year at different venues across the region to learn, listen and make decisions on how money is spent on creative activity in our area. You’ll hear different ideas, perspectives and proposals and have time with your fellow jury members to make decisions on how to shape creative activity in West Cumbria.

Each jury will be held at an accessible venue with disabled parking available.

Lunch and snacks will be provided, and transport support is available to help you travel to and from the venue if needed.

If jury members require any form of additional support, for example childcare, access support, or other caring responsibilities, then every attempt will be made to provide this.

Jury members receive £200 in shopping vouchers per jury in celebration of your time and contributions.

We aim for the whole experience to be both interesting and entertaining for our jury members. Watch more reflections from our second jury at The Oval Centre in November 2024:

How long will the Jury for Joy be running for?

This is a long-term project. We will continue to hold the Jury for Joy twice a year for many years to come. We’d like members to join us for as long as they can and look to grow the jury year on year by recruiting new members.

I’m interested? How do I register?

Deadline to apply Tuesday 28^th April.

You can

• Fill in this registration form.
• Email us at juryforjoy@everyonehere.org and one of our team will be back in touch to help you
• You can call us on 07522 849071 to leave a message, and a member of the team will get back to you for a quick chat and help get you signed up over the phone.

You don’t need any experience with arts, meetings, or decision-making. Our team supports jury members throughout and makes sure everyone feels comfortable taking part.

What happens if I’m selected?

If you are selected to be a jury member via our lottery, you will be contacted by one of the Everyone Here team by phone and email by 5th May  to let you know. We’ll confirm:

• You still want to take part,
• Can attend our jury on Saturday 30^th and Sunday 31^st May
• Any access needs you may have.

Before the jury takes place, one of the Everyone Here team will meet you either in person or online for a one-to-one session to talk through everything you need to know before attending your first jury.

What happens if I’m not selected?

On registering, you’ll be asked if you want to be included in our future lotteries in Autumn 2026 and Spring 2027. If you opt in this will give you a second and third chance of being selected to be part of our ongoing Jury for Joy.

In the meantime, we recommend you sign up to our Everyone Here newsletter which will keep you in the loop about:

• What our jury have been doing
• How the jury members are shaping creativity in West Cumbria
• Additional opportunities to take part

Thanks

We’d like to thank the following people from West Cumbria for helping us co-design the Jury for Joy back in 2023.

• Marc Goodwin from Whitehaven
• Emma Heys from Greysouthen
• John Leyland from Maryport
• Sonny Smith from Harrington
• Janette Tear & Libby Wynne-Tear from Egremont

We’d also like to thank Citizens in Power for leading us through this process.

Finally, thanks must go to our current Jury for Joy members who, since 2024, have made a huge difference to the cultural landscape of West Cumbria and beyond.