The inner city music and arts festival for young people in Nottingham is set to expand after securing standalone funding for the first time in its sixth year history.
The annual Young Hustlers takes place this October (20th) alongside Hockley Hustle offering creative activities and opportunities for children and young people.
Organisers said the Arts Council funding will be used to ‘ignite the fire of creativity among young people’ at a time when arts provision in schools is disappearing and local authority funding to cultural organisations across Nottingham has been withdrawn.
The grant means the festival can realise its ambitions to expand the community outreach programme with workshops across schools, community groups and young creatives set to launch next month.
This year’s theme – Loud and Proud – will focus on celebrating individual and community identity. Interactive activities, workshops and performances will be designed to allow people to explore, express and connect.
Nottingham-based rapper Jah Digga will be leading a series of songwriting and performance workshops at Djanogly City Academy. The master of storytelling and self-expression will empower the students to explore their individuality to create their own music to perform at a young people’s showcase at the festival.
Jah said: “I’m excited to work on this project to see the young people express themselves through creative writing and performing. The process is a journey and to see them develop is very rewarding. These sessions are so important to these young people because it gives them focus and something to work towards! There’s much bad press on our young people so we’re here to show the world how creative and great they are.”
This year, Young Hustlers will also launch Future Hustlers with a talented group of young creatives aged 18 to 30 based at City Arts, one of the long-term festival partners.
They will learn about festival programming, gaining hands-on experience in curating a strand of activity for Young Hustlers 2024. Under the guidance of the Hustle Collective team, they’ll learn essential programming skills, including research, artist commissioning and promotional strategies. The talent development strand aims to create the next generation of creative producers and inspire the younger generation at the same time.
The well received workshops for children and families will once again be offered by Freedom Arts, the St Ann’s based community arts organisation. Last year, they were a great success, with more than 80 families creating street decor for the festival.
Young Hustlers co-director Saziso Phiri said: “This is much more than just a fun family day out, it’s about nurturing community cohesion. The community projects will enable people from different backgrounds to come together, celebrate their differences, and build understanding. We also want to involve and support our young people in Nottingham to give them the opportunity to see that a creative career in the arts is possible.”
Last year, 850 people attended Young Hustlers including 250 tickets donated to low income families. The annual festival has a full programme of activities running throughout the day in venues around Sneinton and Hockley. Working with It’s In Nottingham, there will once again be an allocation of free tickets for low income families to ensure no one misses out.
Young Hustlers is built around getting stuck in, whether it’s making, drumming, dancing or DJing, there will be plenty to enjoy when the programme is announced for 20 October 2024.
Young Hustlers tickets are on sale now priced at Young Person (2-17) £3 / Adult £8
To stay in touch, go to www.younghustlers.co.uk
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