Mayor launches bumper Rewire Festival youth culture programme

Rewire Festival is the city and district’s first ever youth arts festival and will include performances, exhibitions and discussion forums around the city and district from June 26 to July 7.

The event will be the flagship event of Youth 19, Council’s year long programme of events and activities focussed and dedicated to young people aged 12 – 24.

The celebration will include an eclectic range of activities and events including music gigs, a spoken word/hip-hop festival, film screenings, discussions, fashion masterclasses, street art and digital.

The focal point of the festival will be The Big Top events tent in Guildhall Square where the Mayor officially launched the programme this week.

“I am delighted and excited to launch Rewire Festival, an opportunity for the youth of our city and district to get involved and get creative in a wide range of cultural experiences,” she said.

“The festival is one of the highlights of the Youth 19 programme and has been developed by young people for young people so I would encourage anyone aged 12-24 to take ownership of the festival by accessing the programme and getting involved.

“There are hundreds of events to choose from and lots of great opportunities to learn new skills in a variety of disciplines and genres.”

Among the programme highlights are a Youtube Creators Day in The Guildhall on Tuesday July 2 where a host of renowned vloggers will present a one-off content creator’s day offering tops tips and practical advice on making it as a digital content creator.

In Your Space Circus will host a ‘Take Back The Streets’ summer academy that will celebrate the genre of street art while the wide ranging music programme will feature a diverse range of genres including a tour of local schools and colleges by Derry’s 2018 NI Music Prize Winner, Roe. Radio 1 DJ, Phil Taggart will headline the Young Blood Summer edition and host a day of talks and advice on what it means to be a self-sufficient music artist in 2019. In its 19th year, as one of Youth 19’s Golden Events, Celtronic will round up the music programme at Rewire as one of the golden events for Youth 19.

Award winning London based Hip Hop dance company, Boy Blue, will host some exciting workshops where they will work with local young people and dance teachers, sharing skills and inspiring the next generation of dancers from the region and Movie lovers will be excited to learn that Rewire will host an exciting programme of film screenings including the Greatest Showman in The Big Top in Guildhall Square, where themed fancy dress is encouraged. Several other classics will play each day in the Nerve Centre cinema, partnering with Foyle Film Festival.

Young people are also being encouraged to contribute to the Art element of the programme which includes a dedicated youth gallery in the Garden of Reflection in Bishops Street and the This Must Be The Place exhibition in the Void Gallery in Patrick Street.

With comedy, dance, arts, crafts and fashion also featured the programme has something for everyone as Chloe Harkin, a member of the Youth 19 Young People’s Marketing & Events steering group, noted: “We are delighted to have been able to develop a huge and diverse programme for Rewire Festival,”

“You can get involved by signing up for a workshop, contributing your own content or performance or simply by coming along to watch one of the wide variety of performances that will be taking place over the 12 days.

“No matter what your cultural interests or tastes, the festival has something to suit everyone and we hope that all of the young people in the city and district will come out, get involved and get their summer off to a great start at Rewire.”

The full Rewire Festival programme will be accessible at www.youth19.com while you can keep up to date with news by following the Youth 19 social media channels on Instagram, Youtube, Snapchat, Facebook, and Twitter.