Young people from Community Action Isle of Wight’s Bay Youth Forum will be bringing Ascend, a new youth arts festival, to Sandown on 12th/13th July – and they want more young people between the ages of 10 and 18 to help them. Ascend, which is part of Artswork’s Young Cultural Changemakers programme, will see Sandown’s Broadway Centre transformed into an exciting festival space for young people – with a Battle of the Bands on Friday 12th July, followed by a day of music, circus skills, Samba drumming, film and art workshops on Saturday 13th. One reason the group wanted to run their own festival was to address some of the negative stereotyping around young people. 15-year-old Maddie explains:
“We want to show that teenagers don’t just get into bad situations, but can do something positive”.
The group is also concerned that there aren’t enough things for young people to do in the area, or enough places for them to go – an issue they addressed in their film ‘Do Something Different’ which they completed last year as part of Artswork’s Supporting Young Minds programme. The group now needs more young people, living or going to school in the Sandown, Lake and Shanklin area, to get involved with planning and delivering the festival. Sessions run at the Broadway Centre, Sandown, on Mondays, with festival decoration making for 10-13-year-olds from 16:00-17:00, and event planning and marketing for 14-18-year-olds from 17:00-18:30. Anyone interested in helping – or performing at Ascend – can get in touch via Instagram Ascend.youthartsfestival or email [email protected].
