Young Norfolk Arts Festival

Introducing Young Norfolk Arts Festival

Young Norfolk Arts Festival (YNAF) was originally launched by Norwich School in 2013 to celebrate the creativity and achievement of young people from the region.

It was inspired by Norfolk and Norwich Festival, which is a cultural highlight but has a limited young people's offer because it happens during the May exam period.

Steffan Griffiths, Headmaster of Norwich School, had the idea of a multi-arts festival specifically for young people and made it happen.

The festival is now an established event at the end of each academic year, presenting performances and activities by and for young people.

Our audiences

Young Norfolk Arts Festival is aimed at anyone interested in the arts. Our participants are generally young people of school age. For the 2015 festival, the Jeff Koons Collaborative was made up of sixth formers and undergraduates aged 16 - 21 years.

For 2016, we have recruited a Young Norfolk Communications Team who are aged 16 - 18 years and will be working with undergraduates to devise events.

The project

We applied to Grants for the Arts for support with the 2015 festival and the development of a year-round programme of work to lead up to the 2016 festival.

Long-term ambitions

• To make the festival an established part of the cultural calendar
• For every school in Norfolk to have it on their calendar for the end of the academic year
• For the Trust to be in a secure financial position
• To gain recognition for the quality and educational benefit of the festival
• To achieve personal development of young people
• To have an established programme of author events at least once a half term
• For the festival to be seen as a good reference point for professional companies working with young people

Download the case study to read more