29 – 09 JULY 2023
Celebrating the 10 year anniversary of the Young Norfolk Arts Festival!
YNAF 2023 ran from the 29th June – 9th July 2023 with over 10 days of performance, theatre, poetry, writing, dance, visual arts and free creative workshops, made by and for young people in Norwich and Norfolk.
The YNAF 2023 programme provided great opportunities to showcase Norfolk’s young talent at events such as the Launch, the Sounds of the City stages in Chapelfield Gardens during the Lord Mayor’s Celebrations, and our special 10th anniversary wrap party. As part of our 10 year celebrations we launched the inspiring and valuable Young Norwich Creatives Awards which offered £1000 to four young creatives in partnership with the Norwich Arts Centre and National Centre for Writing.
As always, this Festival was devised by the YNA Collective – a volunteer group of 16-25 year olds who are passionate about the arts and creativity. The themes that the Collective want to reflect in YNAF 2023’s programme were: togetherness, interactivity and longevity.
2023 was the mark of our 10th Festival. The support and encouragement we receive each year from partners, funders, participants and audiences is inspiring and deeply motivating. Please help us to ensure that we can continue to nurture the region’s young talent by donating to our fundraising campaign HERE.
Take a look back at our highlight below.
LAUNCH
Photography by YNAC Alumni Lydia Jones
YOUNG NORFOLK WRITING COMPETITION
Creative responses to the winning poems by Norwich University of the Arts Illustration students.
SOUNDS OF THE CITY / LORD MAYOR’S CELEBRATIONS
Photography by YNAC Alumni Lydia Jones
YOUNG NORWICH CREATIVE AWARDS
Photography by YNAC Alumni Lydia Jones
FESTIVAL PROGRAMME
YNAF 2023 LAUNCH
Thurs 29th June 6 – 8pm | Norwich Arts Centre and Livestream | FREE
Join us live as we launch this year’s Festival and celebrate our 10th Anniversary! With music, poetry and dance, curated by our YNA Collective.
Please note this is an invite only event but will also be live streamed online.
CYANOTYPE WORKSHOP
Sat 1 July | 10:30am – 12pm | The Forum, Norwich | FREE
Create and build a collaborative artwork led by our very own Young Norfolk Arts Collective!
THE YNAC MIXER
Sun 2 July | 11:30am – 2pm | OUTPOST Gallery, Norwich | FREE
Come along to connect, collaborate and build relationships with fellow young creatives and industry professionals!
BORKA
Tue 4 July 10:30 – 11:30am & | Norwich Arts Centre
Borka is the story of a goose born with no feathers who feels different from her many brothers and sisters. Unable to find a place where she is accepted, she meets two new friends on their boat heading towards London and finally a home in Kew Gardens.
YNAC BBC RADIO TAKEOVER
Wed 5 July 9 – 10pm | On BBC Radio Norfolk | FREE
Tune in to BBC Radio Norfolk where the Young Norfolk Arts Collective will be joining Kitty Perrin to takeover The Social.
Sounds Of The City
Sat 8 July 12 – 6:30pm | Chapelfield Gardens and City Hall steps | FREE
For this year’s Lord Mayor Celebrations, we are delighted to have co-curated Sounds of the City, taking place in Chapelfield Gardens, that will showcase an eclectic mix of local musical talents, poets, dance and circus troupes.
#PostcardPoems and #FigurineItOut
Thu 29 June – Sun 9 July | Various locations in Norwich City | FREE
Postcard Poems and Figurine It Out is back! The Norwich 2040 LCEP have invited schools to create bite sized poetry and figurines expressing their hopes for the future. You can find the poems and figurines by following the trail across 5 venues in the city.
PERFORMING IN UNCONVENTIONAL SPACES WORKSHOP
CANCELLED
This year we welcome back Casson & Friends and this time they will be leading a workshop on performance in unconventional spaces.
PLAY, PRODUCE, PROMOTE
Sun 2 July 6 – 8pm | The Empire, Great Yarmouth | FREE
Freshly Greated and Young Norfolk Arts present a showcase of the best musical talent from Freshly Greated’s Play Produce Promote Project.
Chalk
Tue 4 July 7:30pm | CANCELLED
ART IN THE PARK
Thu 6 July 4 – 6pm | Chapelfield Gardens, Norwich | FREE
Queer Art Club leads a session of communal art making with a yummy summer picnic.
YOUNG NORFOLK WRITING COMPETITION SHOWCASE
Sun 9 July 2:30 – 4:30pm | National Centre For Writing, Norwich | FREE
We’ll be announcing the winners of the Young Norfolk Writing Competition 2023 in this very special showcase with winners selected by industry professionals and previous winners.
Please note this is an invite only event.
STRIPPED SETS DJ TASTER WORKSHOP
Fri 30 June 5 – 7pm | Pirate Studios, Bessemer Road | FREE
DJ Taster Event with Alina and Pussyfoot, founders of Stripped Sets, home of Norwich’s big queer party & Live Events platforming Women, non binary, POC, queer artists and DJ’s.
WE WEAR THE TROUSERS WORKSHOP
Sat 1 July 3 – 4:30pm | The Forum, Norwich | Free
Wear, tear, mend, repeat…Kate Harper from We Wear The Trousers leads a workshop on mending clothes to promote sustainable fashion.
BIRDLAND
POSTPONED TILL 18TH OCTOBER
YOUNG NORWICH CREATIVE AWARDS
Wed 5 July 6 – 8pm | Norwich Arts Centre, Norwich | Pay What You Can Afford
An evening to reveal and celebrate the winners of our brand new initiative the Young Norwich Creative Awards featuring live musical performances from RONAN and Ruby.
NORFOLK POETRY SLAM
Fri 7 July 11am – 1pm | Norwich Arts Centre | FREE
Budding young poets from 4 Norfolk schools will compete to be crowned the best!
WRAP PARTY
Sun 9 July 5 – 7pm | National Centre For Writing, Norwich | FREE
YNAF Wrap Party with cake, music and games to celebrate our 10 year anniversary and closing of YNAF 2023. Unplugged performances by Terran and Peter.
Support Us And Donate
Young Norfolk Arts Trust is a charity which uses all its income to provide life changing opportunities for young people across Norfolk. Every project and activity is offered to children and young people for free, including our yearly festival programme. Support us by donating what you can…
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