Youth Festival Rocks Out Online

The Sandgate Youth Festival is back again in 2020. The inaugural event was held last year as a way to give young entertainers a chance to perform in their local community.

While the event can't run in the same format as last year, it will still go ahead in a live-streamed capacity. Councillor for Deagon Ward Jared Cassidy said the event organisers decided the festival was too important to let go, despite COVID-19 restrictions.

This event is important as young people are limited to where they can perform generally, but particularly through COVID. They are often too young to perform in licensed venues, so this gives them the opportunity to perform live in front of a large audience. The aim of the festival has always been to foster the growth and development of young musicians,� Jared said.

The festival is the brainchild of Cr Jared Cassidy and Brendon Hofmeier of Beat Connection DJ and Sound. Following an audition process, a number of musical acts will be chosen to compete in October for the prestigious Sandgate Youth Festival Winner� title.

This year the event will appear to be a genuine live music gig ' only, minus the audience. Acts will perform on stage right here at Sandgate Town Hall with the performances beamed out to the rest of the world by the magic of the Internet. The live streaming will also include interviews with the participants and vision of their auditions.

We have reached out to others in the music industry this year, and the production and live streaming of the event will be very professional. It will offer young musicians a great opportunity to develop on stage,� Jared said.

While delivered in a modified way this year, Jared said the event is an important opportunity for young people to perform, and also to support their friends.

That's really important at the moment given how unsettling the COVID situation has been for a lot of young people,� he said.

You can find out more by visiting the Sandgate Youth Festival Facebook page.

Sandgate Youth Festival
Saturday 10 October, 6pm-9pm
Live-streamed from Sandgate Town Hall.