On Saturday 23rd May I was lucky enough to spend the whole day with the B-Fest events team down at the level in Brighton, they might be some of the coolest people I've met this year and what they are doing is really something special.
B-Fest is the annual Brighton Youth Arts Festival and it is a festival ultimately run by young people, for young people. They have things running all week all over the city and everything is focussed on young people getting their voices and opinions and ideas out there into the city.
Artistic Direction, Youth Participation and Production Management is lead by the amazing team at BYC including Mike Roe, Hannah Coxeter and Charlotte Allen and the B-Fest Events Team is made up of over 30 young people from across Brighton who came together to put on a day of artistic celebration for Brighton.
The day was packed with superstar talent from beginning to end, there was live music from young local bands including Varjak, Plutonian Fire Brigade and Negative Measures and everytime I thought they couldn't get more talented, they did! The B-Fest Team were doing face-painting for the kids as well as henna and hair chalks, there were hula hoops to play with, a Skate Jam in the middle of the day and my personal favourite - Youth Poets VS. MC's which was completely genius and unlike anything I'd seen before.
B-Fest is in it's third year and before now I had no idea what it was really about. I'm really glad I went down and checked it out and got to meet the guys from BYC who are leading the charge with it all. They're making a real difference to the lives of the young people involved in the festival and I think it's a great thing to do. You can find the full programme of B-Fest 2015 events here - and there really is something for everyone from Beventeen Bulletin which is a place for young writers to submit their short stories to 'Miss Represented' which is a photography exhibition showcasing the work of some extraordinary young women. So if you can, I highly recommend going to see what they're shouting about - because it deserves to be heard.
B-Fest are on Facebook too where you can see updates on the week long festival.
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