Youth Arts Festival To Take Place In Sandown Next Week

Preparations are nearly complete for Ascend – thought to be the first-ever youth led arts festival on the Isle of Wight – which will take place at the Broadway Centre, Sandown

Proceedings will get underway with a teenage Battle of the Bands on the evening of Friday July 12, and a youth and family-focused day of activities the following day.

The event has been planned and will be run by young people from Community Action Isle of Wight’s Bay Youth Project, who feel there is a lack of affordable things to do for young people in the Bay area, and want to make a difference.

Tamsin, aged 15, one of the event organisers, hopes young people - particularly those who live in Sandown, Shanklin and Lake – support the event.

She said:

“It is an opportunity you don’t get every day – when have you ever heard of a festival run by young people, for young people?

“I think it is probably the only one.”

The Friday between 7pm and 9.30pm will see festival-goers able to enjoy free entry to a battle between some of the Island’s top teenage bands, with the winners receiving a recording session at Aspire and the opportunity to gig at AAA Records.

On Saturday, there will be whole range of free youth- and family-friendly activities, including Samba drumming with YES! Creative Beats and young people from the Bay CE Secondary School, circus skills with Wyld Woods singer-songwriters from the Bay CE Secondary School, arts and crafts led by young people, teen-made films and a silent disco.

A full timetable of activities will be available at Ascend.youthartsfestival soon.

All activities will be free as accessibility was one of the priorities of the young people when planning the event.

Ascend is part of Artswork’s Young Changemakers programme, which applies the charity’s nationally recognised youth arts expertise across the South East, empowering young people to make a difference to their communities through creative projects.

The programme enables young people to work with professional artists to plan and deliver high quality, public-facing interventions that not only have a positive impact on the young people taking part, but on the wider community. 

The project includes training and development to support local young people become the next generation of leaders, creatives and advocates in their areas.