Bright Lights Youth Arts Festival is back across Sunderland

The annual festival showcasing the exciting artistic talents of young Wearside artists opens later this month. The Youth Arts Festival features the annual Bright Lights exhibition and a week of special events at Arts Centre Washington (ACW).

The festival is supported by Sunderland Culture and the exhibition has been curated by the Celebrate Different Collective, a group of young people aged 13-25 from across the city who co-produce and run their own cultural events, work with artists and learn new skills.

The Youth Arts Exhibition 2024: Bright Lights begins on Saturday, February 10 and will continues until Monday, March 11.

The Bright Lights Festival follows on Tuesday, February 20 to Saturday, February 24 featuring free workshops, exhibitions and performances, delivered for and by young people.

The first festival events will be a creative typography workshop with artist Tommy Anderson, 1pm-3pm and a SEN-friendly mask making session for youngsters aged eight+, 1pm-3pm on Tuesday, February 20.

The mask making workshop is run by Autism In Mind, a group supporting autistic adults without a learning disability in Sunderland, South Tyneside and Northumberland.

Other events include a stop-motion animation workshop, a Make a Play in a Day workshop and a film showcase, a free animation workshop.

The Make a Play in a Day session will take place at the same time, when participants aged 11 or over will join actor Mat Hobbins to create a play.

The Bright Lights Film Showcase will start at ACW at 6.30pm on Wednesday, February 21 for those aged eight+. The evening will be led by Washington Young Film Makers Collective.

Emily Nelson, 13, attends the weekly Film Makers Collective meetings at Washington's Millennium Centre.

She said: “We’ll be sharing all the films we’ve made over the last year or so. We do everything ourselves; from writing, directing, acting and sound and filming. We usually produce a film every school term.”

There is also a show, Growing Pains, written and performed by Sunderland College students, a Creative You session for young artists, a metal embossing workshop and a T-shirt design workshop, live music free craft stalls.

Some charges may apply, but free events include an eco writing session, a songwriting workshop led by young musicians and a SEN-friendly animation workshop.

Bright Lights Fringe Festival events will be held at Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens (SMWG).

These include a Bright Lights: Young Wildlife Photographer Exhibition which has already started and a free exhibition supporting the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition.

Matt Blyth, culture and heritage officer at ACW, said: “Our Bright Lights Festival gives young people a perfect platform to celebrate their creativity and to recognise young people’s talent and imagination.

“We’re delighted that this year the festival has some brilliant fringe events based around the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens.”

There is much more besides with bookings and more information at www.artscentrewashington.co.uk and www.sunderlandmuseum.org.uk or through the museum shop.