Front Stage Festival, Include Youth

Front Stage Festival is a new and innovate approach to youth conferences. For far too long the young people that work with Include Youth have told them that generally conferences and events are geared towards 16 to 24 year olds and not for them.

As a free event for young people Include Youth brought over 650 attendees together in an exclusive MAC building takeover to learn, listen, enjoy and participate in issues and themes that the young people themselves have identified as important to them.

With over 40 guest speakers along with sofa discussions, exhibitions, workshops, employability speed dating and advice. The conference covered issues as wide as the arts, acting, mobile photography, the creative industries, climate change, youth campaigning, politics, technology, sports, health and wellbeing and even yoga, there truly was something for everyone.

Here's what attendees and those involved had to say about the conference:

“It’s fantastic. There just something for everyone. It gives us such an opportunity to go in an experience so many different things in one place. It’s brilliant!”

Young attendee speaking on BBC Radio Ulster

"I think Front Stage Festival is import due to the whole youth led part of it. I’ve been to so many conferences and thing, and I would talk and perform at so many conferences but usually I feel like I’m one of the youngest people there whereas to today I definitely wasn’t, I was one of the oldest here which was great for a change. The content here was the kind of thing I would go to here whereas I think conferences aren’t aimed at all towards young people. The fact that there’s been so many people here has been great."

Emer Maguire, Musician, Science Communicator, Presenter