Written by freya Lewis
This Saturday 21st October, to add to an already exciting season, The Contact Theatre, renowned Mancunian creative space and home of the arts and young people, hosts the WHY? Festival in its third year of production. What’s Happening for the Young?
Jude Kelly, Artistic Director of Southbank Centre, London, brings her creation inspired by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children, to Manchester, offering our young people a celebration of their rights and capabilities, offering inspiration: we can make change in our world.
This hosts a range of events, involving workshops, talks, activities and debates, all discussing the rights and lives of young people. Meet activists, policy makers, inspiring young people, artists and journalists as creativity meets a hunger for social change.
This year, WHY? explores the history of protest songs and offers the opportunity to write one. It hosts a beatboxing workshop discussing gender bias. Thirty Pound Gentleman will also attend, hosting a debate surrounding Manchester’s politically radical heritage, from Anarchist-Punks to the Suffragettes.
This includes a forum for children, young people, parents, teachers and professionals to learn about and celebrate the rights of young people everywhere.
To finish the day with a bang, BAC Beatbox Academy will perform ‘Frankenstein’ exploring what it takes to make a monster in 2017 in a suitably named compilation of music and theatre. Or, Young Identity, a group of fierce Mancunian poets, will perform ‘Hatch’ perfectly capturing the fears of existentialism and our world coming to an end.
The Contact Theatre is renowned for its amazing work with marginalised groups, and it’s important to remember that the youth today are a large part of this demographic, who WHY? encourages to be excited and savvy about their environment and lifestyle.. Since the Theatre’s reinvention in 1999, the people there have worked incredibly hard to make the work better for the 13-30 year olds of Manchester.
Please visit the website below for more information, which will provide you information on the (often free) events it involves.
‘Hatch’ features at £10/£6 conc. at 7:30pm
‘Frankenstein’ features at £7/£4 conc. at 6pm
Both performances can be booked at the Contact Theatre’s box office, or from calling 01612740600 or through the Contact Theatre website.
– Freya Lewis