Preview: YO Arts Fest 2020

On the evening of March 24 at Trinity, Bristol arts organisation Paper Arts host YO Arts Fest 2020, Bristol’s free multi-arts festival for young people, by young people.

‘YO’ stands for ‘youth opportunities’, and YO Arts Fest will celebrate creativity within the city, linking young people with arts based opportunities in Bristol. The evening will include food, performances, workshops and
exhibitions, all of which will be provided by local artists, performers and businesses.

We caught up with one of the organisers, Tom Threlfall Hartley.

Hi, Tom. Tell us a little about yourself and your connection with YO Arts Fest.
Hello! I’m working on the marketing side of things for YO Arts Fest. I’m from Kendal in Cumbria, and have recently moved to Bristol. I am enjoying discovering what the city has to offer in terms of creativity and the arts, while specifically seeking more in the world of film, theatre, dance and content creation in general. I also love the outdoors, sport, sustainability and food!

Tom Threlfall Hartley: “YO Arts Fest aims to connect young creative people with creative opportunities in Bristol”

YO Arts has been a valuable opportunity for me. I am learning where my interests and talents lie within the arts and am relishing working with all these great people with such brilliant minds.

Tell us about how YO Arts Fest came into being: conversations, partnerships, aspirations…?
The first YO Arts Fest happened in 2018 at Docklands Youth Centre in St Paul’s. It grew out of a collaboration between Bristol organisations Diverse Artists Network and Paper Arts, and was organised by a group of young creatives who got involved through a course with Paper Arts.

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The festival was set up with the aim of connecting young creative people with creative opportunities in Bristol. Bristol is a city with an incredible array of creative output: however, there is often a lack of visibility surrounding what is available to people starting out their career in the creative sector.

YO Arts Fest strives to facilitate a change, providing an understanding of viable pathways into the sector. It is also, at its simplest, an evening to celebrate and showcase young performers and artists in Bristol, and to have fun!

What are your hopes for the festival – in terms of connections made, ideas shared, opportunities highlighted etc?
YO Arts Fest was set up to connect young people with creative organisations and to facilitate creative opportunities.

While our hope has always been to bring young people closer to creative opportunities, we also aspire to give organisations access to Bristol’s diverse talent – providing a space to broaden and diversify traditional recruitment channels in the industry. This year’s festival will be bigger and better! We’re going to be using a larger space at Trinity, so we can hold more organisations, more artists, more performers and more workshops.

The event is run completely by a team of enthusiastic, skilled young people who are organising the festival through a paid internship. For us, this is a valuable creative opportunity to flex our creative muscles and be part of something bigger for the community.

What has it meant to you to be a part of this team?
I think for each of us interns it has been an invaluable experience. It has given me so much thought and enthusiasm for what I might do after YO Arts Fest. I am excited to keep pursuing the opportunities out there and am motivated to create opportunities for myself. I have specifically been looking into dance producing, documentary film, and bringing together creative ways of documenting my other interests, such as nature, rural life, sustainability and sport.

Tell us a little about what will be happening on the evening.
What *won’t* be happening? That’s what I want to know! We have some exciting organisations coming, such as Bristol Old Vic, Watershed, Rising Arts Agency, Tobacco Factory Theatres – and the list is growing. We have also confirmed our lineup of artists and performers, which we will be announcing on social media in the coming days, so be sure to keep a close eye to our Instagram @yoartsfest!

We have an array of unique and diverse performers, from spoken word, drag, contemporary dance, we also have a live mural painting and a mental health pom-pom workshop. You don’t want to miss it!

YO Arts Fest takes place at Trinity on March 24, from 5.30-9.30pm. For more info, visit paperarts.org.uk

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