OLD metal ballot boxes have been transformed into musical instruments as part of a project to encourage young people to vote.

In the run-up to this year’s General and local elections, teenagers who will be voting for the first time have been working with professional artists to transform the boxes into pieces of art.

The boxes will be used both as musical instruments for a performance at Helmsley Arts Centre on Monday, as well as an exhibition at Ryedale Folk Museum. Officers from Ryedale District Council and North Yorkshire County Council’s Connecting Youth Culture (CYC) have worked with NYMAZ, a youth music organisation, and Helmsley Arts Centre, to give young people the opportunity to re-use Ryedale’s decommissioned ballot boxes, while at the same time as talking about democracy and the importance of voting.

CYC has helped identify groups of young people who might not otherwise have engaged in discussions about voting and democracy and is supporting them during the project. Simon Copley, the district council’s democratic services manager, said:

“In the past we have delivered a number of initiatives to encourage young people to vote, but this year, with an entirely new system for registering to vote and key national and local elections on the horizon, I was keen to do something different, and the need to replace our old, heavy ballot boxes offered too good an opportunity to miss.

“This is a great way to use what would essentially be junk in a creative and interactive way to get young people thinking and talking about democracy.

“The project and the publicity it creates aims to encourage young people to make sure they are registered to vote and to turn out on polling day to have their say.

“We had great raw materials with the ballot boxes and working with Connecting Youth Culture, NYMAZ and Helmsley Arts Centre has created a very exciting end product. Our ultimate aim is to ensure that everybody who is entitled to be is registered to vote and to increase participants’ likelihood of voting in the May elections.”

Billy Hickling, a musician and veteran cast member of West End show Stomp, and Lyn Wait, a visual artist from Ryedale, have put together the performance using the decommissioned metal ballot boxes as musical instruments, sculptures and blank canvases.

Heidi Johnson, from NYMAZ, said: “We’re really excited to see and hear what the participants have created visually and musically with the old ballot boxes, and our aim is that this initiative has a longer term impact in increasing young people’s awareness of democratic processes.”

• The performance of Crash Bang Ballot! will be at Helmsley Arts Centre on Monday, at 7pm. Phone 01439 771700 or go to helmsleyarts.co.uk

• The exhibition, Democracy Rocks, will run at Ryedale Folk Museum until after the May elections.