Young Leaders

The Young Leaders Program is for LGBTQIA+ young people, aged 18-25 years old. The program runs for 10 months, starting in October each year. Applications open around August.

During the Program, sessions are held every two weeks. These sessions (or "QLABs") are designed to develop the skills, confidence and experience to inspire the next generation of leaders – they often feature guest appearances from current LGBTQIA+ leaders!

Being involved in the Young Leaders Program means you’ll play a starring role in Minus18’s life-affirming youth events, including Melbourne Queer Formal.

Applications to join our 2022/23 Young Leaders Program have officially now closed. We'll be sharing all the impact our new cohort make in the coming year, and we'll be recruiting again in late 2023.

Unfortunately you must be 18 or over at the time of application in order to be eligible for the Young Leaders Program. We can't wait to receive your application next year!

Similarly, as this is a program for folks aged 18 to 25, if you turn 26 during the program then you will unfortunately not be able to apply. Thanks for understanding!

Thinking about applying, but unsure if you can make all QLab sessions? 90% attendance is expected, so please only apply if you can commit to this!

Minus18's life-affirming, identity-celebrating events are for young people aged 12 to 19, so there's some overlap age-wise with Young Leaders.

That said, it's important to note that applicants aged 18 or 19 who are successful, will not be able to attend Minus18 events as attendees.

If you'd still like to attend Minus18 events with your pals – rather than playing a starring role in delivering the events – then we recommend applying a year or two down the track!

If you're in Victoria, but outside of Melbourne / Naarm, we'd love for you to apply! Many of our youth events, and a number of QLabs, will be digital. Young Leaders also receive honorariums for each QLAB, in order to cover travel costs.

Keep in mind though, that 90% attendance rate is expected, and that many of our events – including our flagship event, Queer Formal – are in-person. Same goes for a large portion of QLabs.

If you're on the fence or unsure – apply anyway!

To our interstate friends: we hope to have a program for you in the future!

Young Leaders receive an honorarium for every QLAB they attend – this is to cover travel time, and associated costs.

Young Leaders are also paid for every additional opportunity they engage with. These will vary in size and scope, depending on the engagement, and the org/friend of Minus18 offering the opportunity.

TRAINING & UP-SKILLING

We design sessions that give you the opportunity to understand and find confidence with your own leadership style and to build on the skills you have. We explore how to make spaces more inclusive, and how to stay safe as an LGBTQIA+ advocate. 

These sessions are guided by Minus18 staff and feature special guests from the LGBTQIA+ community who are leaders within their field.

CREATION & IMPLEMENTATION

As a Young Leader, you get to be part of the  team that delivers Minus18’s life-affirming in-person and digital youth events. You’ll work with the Minus18 Event Coordinator to provide on-the-ground support at our in-person and digital events, and put those new leadership skills into action.

MAKE FRIENDS & CONNECTION

While there’s plenty of time to up-skill and learn from expert guests, this is also your chance to make friends and connect with the other young leaders in the program.

Some years ago, it was volunteers who helped us deliver our youth events and youth activations. We've completely reimagined what "volunteering" looks like at Minus18, to put the emphasis on Minus18 providing training, opportunities, and up-skilling to young people.

Basically? The Young Leaders Program, as well as every QLAB, is about empowering YOU, the next generation of LGBTQIA+ leaders.

You'll still be impacting queer young people though, by being on the ground at our youth events – especially Queer Formal – using those new leadership skills!