On Saturday 9 November, the Takeover Festival will bring workshops, talks, exhibitions and live music to Ipswich County Library. The festival is entirely organised by young people and is facilitated by Suffolk Libraries’ Arts Council funded youth arts programme, BLOC: Building Libraries on Creativity.
The festival has the tagline Suffolk Youth - Our Art, Our Voice and aims to celebrate youth voice and young Suffolk creativity, as well as show a more artistic side to the county’s library service.
Workshops will include music, dance, poetry, digital art, virtual reality, painting and drawing. Festival-goers can also expect inspiring talks, an exhibition of artworks by young people from Suffolk and live music in the evening. Other libraries around the county are planning youth-focussed fringe events and exhibitions.
The festival is organised by BLOC’s Youth Council, with Young Artists in Suffolk (YAIS) contributing to the programming. Suffolk Libraries creative programmes assistant Sally Garwood said:
“We are so proud of our Youth Council for putting together a festival to support youth engagement in the arts, particularly for those without ready access to cultural activities. We are passionate about showcasing regional talent and supporting developing young artists.”
“We felt it was important for our Youth Council to be given free rein, to completely take over Ipswich Library, leading on all aspects of event production and building a programme of events to encourage and stimulate youth culture. We can’t wait to celebrate the day with them.”