Rachel Adam argues that the Juice festival is not a ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ event unconnected to the year-round cultural ecology of the North East.
Richard Kenworthy
Now in its sixth year, Juice, NewcastleGateshead’s festival for children and young people, is a multi-artform festival taking place in over 15 venues and open-air locations across the city. It is delivered in close partnership with over 20 cultural sector organisations and involves many thousands of young people and families. Delivery partners include the NewcastleGateshead Cultural Venues network, the two local authorities, plus other specialist organisations such as Northern Print and Apples and Snakes. The festival presents work created by, for and with children and young people − young people are involved as artists, event managers, programmers, volunteers, participants and audiences. We have worked with a fantastic range of artists including Lone Twin, Fevered Sleep, Mammalian Diving Reflex, Unfolding Theatre, Nora Fok, Urban Playground, Stan’s Cafe, Oliver Jeffers, Bare Toed Dance Company, Simon Mole, Gideon Mendel, Crispin Hughes, and many others. All bring artform specialism, creative ambition and a collaborative approach.
The ten-day, autumn festival is the most visible output of a year-round development process, involving young people, delivery partners and artists. Across the programme, engagement routes into and out of the festival are put in place with partners, building context and legacy for young people and families. This networked approach to programming has led to a number of powerful outcomes.
An evaluation report commissioned by NewcastleGateshead Initiative in 2011, written by Mark Robinson, demonstrated that Juice is valued by delivery partners as a platform for showcasing work and raising the profile of work with and by young people. It has become a focal point for planning and creative programming discussions that help shape year-round work, not simply that done for the festival. It is a catalyst for deeper engagement with children and young people, as a multiplier of what they might already be doing, supporting more ambitious projects, and also reaching larger audiences. And it is a connecting link between organisations and individuals, in order to better engage children and young people with the cultural offer in NewcastleGateshead.
One example of a project delivering many of these outcomes was Press Gang, which ran from June to November 2012. Twenty people aged 15 to 24 signed up to preview and review festival events. Over the summer many of them joined reviewing masterclasses, delivered in partnership with New Writing North. Led by critics including Danny Leigh, Laura Snapes and Kate Kellaway, the masterclasses built confidence and skills that were then applied to Juice events. Posts on our blog were viewed over 1,300 times and the Press Gang team now takes skills into the next phase of their lives. Sara, aged 18, said: “Becoming involved with Juice kickstarted things for me. Getting my first ever article published, conducting my first interview and getting my first work experience were all huge turning points.”
Delivering huge turning points is the true legacy. No surprise then that Juice is a year-round process, with the ten-day festival acting as a vehicle − the visible tip of the iceberg.
Rachel Adam is Freelance Director of Juice Festival.