InterAct Youth Arts Festival returns in July

Renowned in the North West for its astounding array of free summer activities, InterAct is a unique festival created by youth for youth.

Spear headed by the Millennium Forum’s Youth Forum – a pro-active group of teens that works tirelessly to plan and programme the events – InterAct is on the cutting edge of young people’s skills development and entertainment.

This year, InterAct will begin on Wednesday, July 3 with a packed schedule of four fun filled days that will include workshops in dance, DJ Skills, acting, stand-up comedy, art and design, technical theatre, gaming, creative writing and poetry, yoga and much more!

This all culminates on Saturday, July 6 with the InterAct Showcase event which will be a fully interactive experience exploring the fantastic work each workshop has developed through the week.

Expect colour, noise, laughter, energy and lots of surprises.

As always, all workshops and masterclasses are totally free of charge.

Tickets for the Showcase on July 6 are £3, and can be purchased from the Forum Box Office.

Mags Carlin, Festival Director of InterAct 2019, said: “Each year, InterAct has become bigger and better, offering opportunities for young people aged 12-21 throughout the local area and further afield.

“I’m pleased to say that with the help and commitment of our Youth Forum, our funders and the Millennium Forum, we’ve come up with a free programme that continues to deliver the biggest youth arts festival the city has to offer!

“This year, we also have a fully inclusive festival offering assistance for any additional need or carers for any workshop.”

“The theme of this year’s festival is ‘Interaction,’ so the showcase definitely won’t be a sit down experience!

“We have a wide range of workshops available, including aCostume Design workshop, a masterclass with two West End stars, stand up comedy, art and design and Musical Theatre.

“We also have a Theatre Tech workshop. I always find that young people don’t realise what happens behind the stage, so I think it is amazing for them to find out what happens backstage with the sound, lights.

“They will be taking 20 young people, 10 will do lighting and 10 will do sound and then they will swap over.

“So they’ll get experience of both.

“We’re also introducing Yoga and Mindfulness. This is something that the Youth Forum really wanted to have.

“They said that the week is really good and really hectic.

“The facilitator is going to come in to speak to the young people on the Thursday, and then on Friday just before the performance to relax them and get them focused before the showcase.

“Everyone that is coming in has a lot of different experience and backgrounds, and as this is a Youth Arts Festival, they told us what they wanted and we went and got the facilitators on board,” said Mags.

Full details of the InterAct Festival programme are now available or from the Forum’s Box Office.

All classes and workshops can be booked online as well as from the Box Office.

Sign up for all of the workshops is now live, and can be booked via www.millenniumforum.co.uk/interact-2019 or through the Box Office on 02871264455.

The InterAct Youth Arts Festival is funded by the Arts Council, Youth 19 and BBC Children In Need.

For more information on the festival, contact Mags Carlin, Education & Schools Marketing Officer, on 02871272776 or email [email protected]