IgniteNE

[North East England] 2005 & 2006

In August 2005 an event celebrating the creativity of looked after children and young people in the North East took place at The Sage Gateshead. The event was attended by over 400 children, young people and adults, who all had an opportunity to participate in artist-led workshops in creative writing, storytelling, music making, acting and visual arts. The event included an exhibition of work produced by looked after children and young people through various projects across the region. An evening celebration of the work produced during the day rounded off the event.

"The event provided an outstanding opportunity for looked after children and young people to show what they could achieve, and an excellent forum for them to be profiled in a positive way. The levels of talent and confidence demonstrated by the performers were a revelation to many."
Ruth Abbott, IgniteNE05 Evaluator

Following the success of IgniteNE05, the IgniteNE06 festival comprised a programme of events across the North East to showcase the children and young people's work. Visual art exhibitions were displayed at the Customs House in South Shields and Durham County Hall, film festivals screened at Sunderland University Media Centre and Europa Cinema at Teesside University, a conference held at Dance City and live performances presented at the Arc in Stockton-on-Tees.

The final live performance event proved to be a real highlight. Over 100 young people attended to see their peers performing music, dance, fashion, film and drama. The young people taking part thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to perform and gained a lot of satisfaction from presenting their work in a professionally resourced and hosted event.