History
Concertos para Bebes, Festival 2009
Young at Art was founded in 1998 by the Old Museum arts centre, Wheelworks and the Belfast Festival at Queen's as an international arts festival for young people aged between 0 and 18 in Belfast. This responded to public demand for children's activities and a perceived absence of public profile for arts for young people.
The Early Years
The first Young at Art international cultural festival for children and young people took place in October 1998 with a second on an even greater scale in October 1999. From the start, it established balances between participatory work and performance, international and indigenous work. The company gained independent status in January 2000 and in May 2000 staged its third festival in 2 years.
Support for the festival from the general public and schools was overwhelming and year-round activities were introduced. Touring, workshops, seminars, pilot projects contributed to a busy and exciting programme.
Development
From an early period Young at Art became an advocate for high quality children's arts. In 1999, it began to commission artists to develop work for young people, prioritising new and emerging artists. Events at the Millennium Dome and EXPO in Hanover followed in 2000. In 2001, it established Open Space a youth arts forum in Northern Ireland. In 2002, it convened Making Space, Northern Ireland's first international conference on children and creativity, followed by two publications.
During all this, the organisation continued to work with children and young people, engaging in original and cross-disciplinary projects throughout Northern Ireland, and establishing collaborations between local and international artists and educators.
Up to the present day
By 2003, the festival had grown to attract in excess of 10,000 people each year while developmental work involved over 5,000 people each year, both in and outside of the formal education sector.
In 2005, the festival was relaunched as the Belfast Children's Festival, continuing to win admiration for its use of non-formal spaces and its very distinctive style. Its year-round programme developed a more strategic research focus, studying the cultural needs of young people aged 14 -18 years, and young people in minority ethnic and disadvantaged communities.
In 2007, Young at Art celebrated the festival's tenth birthday and embarked on a new 3-year strategy. And in 2008 Young at Art's international children's festival continued to grow and build upon previous years, being one of the largest in the UK.
The 2009 Belfast Children's Festival, the international festival run by Young at Art, was attended by over 27,164 people and retained its status as one of the largest international children's festival in the UK.
