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Speakers’ Corner Trust is a registered charity which promotes free expression, public debate and active citizenship.

Our approach is based on the belief that association between citizens and the free, face-to-face exchange of ideas, information and opinions – with each other as well as with the decision-takers among them – is a key to rebuilding trust and participation in community life and governance in Britain and developing vibrant civil institutions and robust rights in emerging democracies.

Our Key Activities

  • Programmes & Projects

    SCT has three core programmes, the first focused on creating a national network of local Speakers' Corner projects in the UK, the second on undertaking initiatives overseas and the third on developing educational resources designed to encourage and enable people to express their ideas and opinions in public. More

  • Special Initiatives & Resources

    SCT has formed a number of partnerships with major organisations which enable it to pursue projects which it could not undertake alone. It has, for example, worked with the Southbank Centre on the production of Speaking Out, a download introducing the basic skills required for confident speaking in public, and with Central St Martins College of Art and Design on the creation of prototype Speakers’ Corners.More

  • Youth Amplified

    Youth Amplified is free to use and features videos, animations and downloadable guides for teachers and youth workers designed to help 11-18 year-olds develop effective speaking and listening skills and confidence in using them.

    The website is the outcome of a nine month project by SCT and the University of Leeds supported by the BAFTA-winning digital design agency Bold Creative and funded buy the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. You can access Youth Amplified here.

  • Latest News

    SCT Advises on a People's Platform at New York's Historic Federal Hall

    SCT is working with the National Parks of New York Harbor Conservancy on the multi-million dollar restoration of Federal Hall, one of America's most iconic historic buildings.

    Federal Hall stands on the site on New York's Wall Street where George Washington was inaugurated as the first US President and the first Federal Congress of the United States established the American system of government and conceived the Bill of Rights.

    The building which stands there now was conceived in the mid 19th century as an architectural embodiment of the democratic ideal, drawing inspiration not only from the American past but also from the Parthenon of ancient Athens and the Pantheon of republican Rome.

    Now the Harbor Conservancy in partnership with the National Park Service has launched an ambitious plan for its regeneration. At its heart lies a visionary proposal to create the People’s Platform,designed to make Federal Hall an inspirational forum for the exercise of the First Amendment rights to free expression and open public debate.

    SCT has been commissioned to develop a coordinated program of public events on the steps of the building and in its Grand Rotunda. Plans are currently being developed and will be further refined as partners and collaborators are identified.

    Read more.

  • Support SCT

    SCT is a small and cost-efficient registered charity with very low overheads. Since we were formed in 2007, we have successfully extended the scope and reach of our work through partnership and collaboration rather than by increasing our own size and costs. That remains our strategy.

    But like any other charity we do have to meet our modest costs and your support would be very much appreciated.

    Find out how you can support our work.


Hot Topics

  • Forum for Debate

    In A Good Life – Is Faith a Help or Hindrance? the latest in our series of online debates, Andrew Copson of the British Humanist Association and Nick Spencer of the Christian think tank Theos consider: is a ‘good’ life possible without a sense of divine purpose?
    More

  • Nigeria Speakers’ Corner

    With support from the Ford Foundation, SCT has established Speakers' Corner Trust Nigeria as an affiliated but independent sister organisation. Following its launch in Abuja in November 2012, SCTN has undertaken its first local projects and is now planning more.

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  • Leicester Speaks

    Since SCT helped originate Leicester Speaks during Local Democracy Week in 2010, the local partnership has gone from strength in each successive year - as you can see from these three short but inspirational films.

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  • Speaking Out

    Speaking Out is a fifteen minute film jointly commissioned by SCT and the Southbank Centre which seeks to provide inspiration and encouragement to people who have opinions and ideas to communicate.

    More