Taste of Kingship initiative gives young people an unforgettable cinema experience designed to inspire purpose, vision and leadership

For one day, a group of teenagers stepped into a cinema, settled in with blankets and popcorn, watched a film and listened to conversations designed to challenge them to see themselves differently.

It was the 14th and final day of the Taste of Kingship Summer Camp, but it was also something more: Coronation Day, an initiative created by storyteller Bolanle Oyindamola Jenrola, founder of Taste of Kingship, to give teenagers outside the existing programme an opportunity to experience what it means to begin their own journey of kingship.

Unlike the teenagers who participated in the Taste of Kingship Academy and Summer Camp, those invited to Coronation Day were deliberately selected from communities outside the existing programme. The decision was intentional.

At the heart of Taste of Kingship is the philosophy of “Formation Before Identity”: the belief that who a young person becomes must be intentionally formed before the world defines them by their circumstances, titles or achievements.

This was the idea behind Coronation Day.

The story of David, which inspired the Taste of Kingship Summer Camp, provided a powerful parallel. Before David became king, he was a young shepherd in the wilderness, far from the centre of attention and, for a time, seemingly forgotten.

Coronation Day was created with that same thought in mind: What happens when we look beyond the obvious and give a young person who might otherwise be overlooked an opportunity to see a bigger picture of their own life?

For the teenagers who attended, the day was designed to be both memorable and meaningful.

They experienced a cinema screening together, complete with blankets and popcorn, before taking part in conversations about identity, purpose, dreams and the kind of future they want to create. They were also guided through a vision-board exercise, where they imagined and began to design the story they wanted their lives to tell.

The aim was not simply to give the teenagers a fun day out. It was to give them an experience they could remember years from now: the day they sat in a cinema, watched a film, ate popcorn, created a vision for their future and heard people speak positively into their lives.

For Jenrola, that memory is part of the impact.

“We deliberately did not choose only the teenagers who were already part of our Academy or our Summer Camp. We wanted to look beyond our existing community and reach young people who might otherwise be overlooked,” said Bolanle Oyindamola Jenrola.

“David was in the wilderness before he was recognised as a king. We wanted to ask ourselves: who are the young people in our society who may be in their own wilderness right now? Who has not noticed them yet? And what happens if we give them an opportunity to see themselves differently?”

The concept of kingship within the Taste of Kingship universe is not about royalty or status. It is about character, responsibility, purpose, courage and the understanding that every young person has the potential to make an impact.

Jenrola believes that society cannot always know in advance who its future leaders will be.

“We do not necessarily know who the kings of the future are. That is why everyone needs an opportunity to be part of the journey. We have the Academy, and we will continue to build structured programmes for teenagers, but as often as we can, we want to create opportunities where young people outside those structures can also have access to the same kind of encouragement, exposure and possibility.”

Coronation Day therefore represents another dimension of the Taste of Kingship vision: creating opportunities for young people to encounter stories and experiences that encourage them to believe that their circumstances do not have to determine the story of their lives.

The initiative brings together film, storytelling, education and community engagement, using the cinema not simply as a place to watch a film but as a space for conversation, imagination and personal reflection.

For the teenagers who participated, the day offered an opportunity to dream beyond their present circumstances, articulate their hopes and begin putting a picture to the future they want.

For Taste of Kingship, it was a practical expression of its larger mission: to find, inspire and develop the kings of tomorrow, even when they have not yet been recognised as such.

As Jenrola continues to expand Taste of Kingship through its drama series, Academy and youth-focused initiatives, Coronation Day serves as a reminder of the project’s central message: formation comes before identity, and every young person deserves the opportunity to become before the world decides who they are.