Young people in Croydon participated in a day of free creative events, performances and workshops, held by the Croydon Youth Arts Collective (CYAC). The event, held on Saturday 28th October, was aimed to promote the talent of children and young adults, whether it be through art, music or drama.
The creative activities gave young adults a way to illustrate their passion for the arts in a fun and supportive environment where they had the freedom to create whatever they wanted to. Workshops and events ranged from filmmaking to live bands, all giving young adults the opportunity to discover a new hobby or hidden talent. The theme for the event this year was ‘Wellbeing’, which was primarily seen in the two ‘Sound Bath’ sessions where children up to 18 engaged with different voice and instrumental sounds.
Helping to run the event was Turf Projects, who are an artist run charity organisation which work to support the development of artists through free events. From speaking to Sophie Blagden, Children and Youth Projects Manager from Turf projects, her goal from the event was ‘to get the voices of young people in Croydon heard and to talk about what opportunities are available for them’.
Which leads to the question, are councils doing enough to support and motivate young adults and children? Events like these show how effective and impactful they are towards highlighting the talent in young people. Sophie also went on to explain how Turf Projects are ‘running a youth programme called container news which is a magazine completely made by young people’. She spoke passionately at how Turf Projects are planning to do many more events like these in the future as it is ‘important to hear the voices of young people and to hear what else they want in Croydon’.
By Caitlin Perry, Croydon High School
