You Are Youth Arts Festival announces epic, action-packed weekend lineup

The much-anticipated You Are Youth Arts Festival will kick off at the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre on Friday, May 3 for a weekend of epic entertainment for 13-18 year olds.

Organised by young people for young people, the inaugural event will feature dance shows, guitar jams, songwriting workshops as well as performances, swap markets and virtual reality gaming and plenty more.

Bringing the festival to life is 21-year-old Kaitlin Brown, 16-year-old Wilder Rowe, MPAC artistic director Guy Boyce and YOH Fest coordinator Karen Lyons.

The team are hoping, through the exciting new program, they will reach local young people to get engaged with MPAC with a lineup of events and theatre made for them.

The action starts at 5pm on Friday, May 3 with an opening launch event from 5pm at MPAC with music by Ugly DJ Co and performances by Pulse Productions and Riptide.

Airborne will take to the stage at 7pm, showcasing some of Mandurah's best acrobats, skaters, dancers, circus performers and musicians for an experience unlike any other.

Inspired by the need to embrace and celebrate young men in the community, Airborne focuses on the special bonds between brothers and the kinship it creates.

Riptide's Blue Portal Road will return to the Fishtrap stage at 8pm, exploring inter-dimensional worlds and what it feels like to be stuck inside your own head.

Featuring dodgy cabaret, strange garden hedges and a whole lot of bed sheets, this is your chance to watch this piece if you missed it at Summer Nights 2019.

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The festivities continue on Saturday, May 4 from 10am with a jam-packed day of markets, workshops, food and photo booths.

The markets will be swap markets so attendees are asked to bring along anything from clothes to shoes, vinyls and plants and pick up something new in return.

There will also be food, mocktails, body and graffiti art, virtual reality gaming, scooter jam, a silent disco and photo and boogie booths throughout the day.

A number of unique and exciting workshops will be hosted throughout the day teaching dance, drumming, iPhone film making and songwriting, facilitated by headline band Death By Denim.

The day will be emceed by local legend Tyger Lyons and will also include a number of Riptide performances for young people who may have missed the shows throughout the last year.

Their binge will also offer a sneak peek at 4.30pm into an upcoming major project to be revealed in September, Tide Tales.

The show is a collection of four short new works written by Riptide members who have spent the past two months developing their writing skills with Australian Theatre for Young People's Jane Fitzgerald.

After developing their plays with a team of artists in Sydney, the writers will show you what they've got with an open reading in the dance studio at MPAC.

At 8pm, Riptide will recreate their first ever fully ensemble-created show, Cardboard Kingdom. Described as a heartfelt wake up call, the show is abstract and real and a reminder of how important it is to let kids be kids.

Saturday also boasts an epic lineup of tunes with amazing local musicians Navana, Mitch Martin, Guthrie, Felicity, Mitch Balldardin, India and Jake Hatch all set to take the stage.

The You Are Youth Arts Festival promises a great weekend for the youth of the Peel region.

For more information about the festival, to book a spot in the workshops or purchase tickets for the performances, call the Box Office visit the MPAC website.