GOTHS, MINGS AND SCRUFFS

Goths, Mings and Scruffs is a community-led literature and arts project exploring youth homelessness, queer identity, and working-class subcultures in Liverpool. Working with young people and young adults connected to GYRO Youth Support Group, as well as interviewees with lived experience of St John’s Shopping Centre, the project centred ethical co-creation, access, and participant agency.

Through interviews, writing workshops, zine-making, and collective creative sessions, participants developed new work that informed a novel-in-progress, a zine, and a public sharing event. This report reflects on the project’s process, outcomes, learning, and impact.

This project was delivered using trauma-informed, community-led practice, prioritising consent, access, and care. Participants retained control over how their contributions were shared or used.