Renfrewshire Leisure has launched the Inspired Family and Youth Arts Festival; their first ever cultural festival for children and young people and also marked the opening of the Inspired Exhibition at Paisley Museum; the annual exhibition of artwork from children and young people across Renfrewshire.
The Inspired Family and Youth Arts Festival is a programme of events and activities for young people to get involved with, and be inspired by, the arts. Running over 8 weeks, including the February and Easter holidays, there’s everything from exhibitions to dance performances and free activities to drama, suitable for early years to teens. The festival will take place in various venues such as Paisley Arts Centre, Paisley Museum, Johnstone Town Hall and libraries across Renfrewshire until Sunday 17 April.
The Inspired exhibition will run until 10 April at Paisley Museum and is aimed at showcasing the development of children’s art and design work from 3 and 4 year olds through to fifth and sixth year students. Admission to the exhibition is FREE.
Highlights of the Inspired Family and Youth Arts Festival include an interactive show for pre-schoolers from Scottish Dance Theatre, performances from the Puppet Animation festival, and a drama piece by local Renfrewshire actor, Sita Pieracinni. Johnstone Town Hall will host its first ever film screenings with popular animation films; Minions and Inside/Out.
The Arts Development team at Renfrewshire Leisure have programmed a busy schedule of free drop-in arts activities for children during the half term and Easter break at Paisley Museum and an activity club at Paisley Arts Centre workshop, where families can drop in and take part in organised arts activities before a show.
Renfrewshire Libraries will be hosting regular activities such as Bookbug in addition to Play in the Park, an adventure story set in a local park.
Councillor Jim Harte, Chairman of Renfrewshire Leisure commented:
“I am delighted that Renfrewshire Leisure will be hosting the Inspired Family & Youth Arts festival, our first ever children’s festival in Renfrewshire. As well as offering new opportunities for cultural engagement, this festival builds on much of the work already being delivered by Renfrewshire Leisure’s Cultural services teams. The annual Inspired exhibition at Paisley museum will highlight the wealth of local talent in our schools and nurseries while the performance and activities programme brings together the best in live theatre, dance and arts workshops for children, young people and their families. I am particularly delighted that our programme extends out to Johnstone, where audiences there will be able to enjoy the films being screened in the new Johnstone Town Hall.”
Morag Macpherson, Head of Cultural Services for Renfrewshire Leisure, added:
‘The Inspired festival is a great example of the type of work we are developing and celebrating in Renfrewshire. It pulls together some fantastic events which we have been developing with children and young people for a number of years now, including the Inspired exhibition, the Wee Red dot film Festival and the John Byrne drawing competition. The evolution of these events into a festival gives us the chance to bring together the talents of children and young people, and professional artists who can help them develop their skills. Plan B dance company have been working with Right 2 dance students to perform a ‘curtain raiser’ prior to their performance of ‘And Now…’. Sita Pieraccini from Paisley will be working with PACE Youth Theatre to deliver a masterclass in physical theatre skills. This is our inaugural Inspired festival, and we want to see it go from strength to strength as we all work towards supporting the bid for UK City of Culture 2021.’
For more information or to book tickets for events during the Inspired Family and Youth Arts Festival, go towww.renfrewshireleisure.com/inspiredfestival