Young people are a large consumer segment but they are often overlooked or misunderstood both as creators and audiences.
I am not usually one to program a Festival to a particular theme, but I feel youth are so often overlooked that, in my fourth year as Artistic Director at Brisbane Festival I am excited to present a program that, for the first time, focuses on younger generations.
We live in challenging times, especially for the young people of today who are faced with issues that more often than not transcend nationality, language and culture.
The global financial crisis has darkened the future of many millions of young people with cuts to education, skyrocketing student loans and meagre employment opportunities to name a few. Yet I am continually amazed by the inextinguishable optimism, hope and creativity that I have encountered among younger generations during my travels.
Look to all parts of the world and it is youths that are leading massive cultural and political change in places like Europe and the United Kingdom. It is groups like Anonymous and bloggers and citizen journalists that are starting revolutions at a grassroots level.
History has always dictated that incredible art is borne from young people’s struggles. It is this marriage of young minds, unrest and art that has always intrigued me. Over the past few years, I have noted a strong trend towards art plucked from the ‘streets’ and street culture, and naturally, younger generations are paving the way.
An emphasis of this year’s Brisbane Festival is on young people’s stories and telling these stories in a very contemporary manner. We will hold a mirror up to the world, with tales told from the toughest neighbourhoods of South Central Los Angeles in Freeze Frame, to the streets of Columbia in URBAN, to our very own suburbia in Body Language.
While these stories will resonate with audiences of any age, I hope this year’s Festival will provide a springboard for our young artists, as well as attract more young people to get involved in the arts.
In support of young artists, our new Festival hub QUT Theatre Republic will host the work of independent theatre makers from around the country, exposing them to larger audiences under the banner of an international arts festival.
I spoke earlier this year at the Drama Queensland State Conference about the role Brisbane Festival must play in providing students with the opportunity to experience performances they might otherwise not have the chance to see.
To help expose younger generations to Brisbane Festival, for the first time we have an education program comprising events that have strong curriculum links. Each performance is accompanied with detailed teachers’ notes and special ticket prices are also available.
Debbie Allen, choreographer, director and writer of Freeze Frame will also connect with local peers, academics and community leaders when she is in Brisbane in a special workshop at Griffith University. Debbie will talk about her experiences running the Debbie Allen Dance Academy in Los Angeles and explore how its successful model could apply in our own communities to engage young people in the arts.
The program for young people build’s on an established priority of introducing children to the arts. We have all seen the studies about the positive impact the arts have on health, and I imagine a happier and healthier society in the future because of it. In a perfect world, all children would grow up thinking of the arts as part of normal everyday life – that what is considered old is actually new; the theatre is an outing with friends, not just for the parents on date night. The Spiegeltent family program helps facilitate this mantra. It has doubled in size this year, following the sold out inaugural family program last year, and has performances suitable for children as young as three. Free family events like Santos GLNG City of Lights, Opera on the Riverstage and Symphony Under the Stars are also part of the Festival.
Above all, I would simply like to show young people the arts are fun, and I hope this will inspire the next generation to get involved with the arts and nurture the same life-long passion that has guided me.
The Financial Times commissioned a study earlier this year that found a vast majority of Millennials surveyed around the globe genuinely think they can change the world and their communities.
It is this overwhelming sense of optimism, the desire for positive global change and the limitless ambition to succeed that assures me the future of the arts, as well as our society, is in good hands.
The 2013 Brisbane Festival runs from 7 to 28 September.
