Brief
Latitude Festival – Inbetweeners Area
Latitude has a long reputation for high quality arts and culture programming and the Inbetweeners area forms an intrinsic part of their award-winning offer for families and children.
In a fantastic woodland location, the Inbetweeners’ Area (strictly for 12-17 years) is designed to be a space that teens can call their own. Young people have the opportunity to try their hand at a range of music, film, fashion, tech and media workshops alongside industry professionals and emerging talent. They also have the opportunity to watch other young people in performance.
Creative Nation inherited Inbetweeners from its founders, Culture Works East, in 2018. Festival Republic engaged us to programme the activities; design and build the space and manage and deliver the event.
PROJECT details
CLIENT: FESTIVAL REPUBLIC
PROJECT: EVENT PROGRAMMING, PRODUCTION AND MANAGEMENT FESTIVALS/COMMUNITY
FIELD: EVENT PRODUCTION/EDUCATION
FIELD: EVENT PROGRAMMING/ PRODUCTION/EDUCATION
Introduction
Set in a beautiful, rural location, producing content at Latitude Festival requires you to be both conscious of and work with the landscape. InBetweeners nestles in woodland on a hillside. Activities take place in tents and on stages within the trees, and also extend out into the wider festival, encouraging young people to be both audience and to play a more active part in the festival.
InBetweeners provides a platform for inter/national and local organisations to showcase and introduce their work to young festival goers. This makes for a really great experience for young people, but also for the creative and cultural organisations and individuals who have the opportunity to engage with new audiences, and each other.
The Process
Working alongside the wider festival programme, we create a complimentary programme; build and facilitate all activities for the area, including bringing in partners and professionals from across our national and regional networks. We also secure sponsorship to support our activities through the provision of state of the art equipment and expertise from partners like Magic Leap and Panasonic.
Since we have been in post, we have introduced a new brand identity for the area, and whilst we are somewhat restricted by the landscape, the look and feel has evolved year on year. The overall look and feel is designed to look like a distinct area within the festival, with spaces that inspire and enable young people to take part.
Each subsequent year, we have evolved the programme, with a mixture of drop in and pre booked activities which enable young people to have a go at different artforms, alongside opportunities to sit, watch and listen.
The Results
Over 5 consecutive years we have produced a stand-alone festival for teens within the wider festival. Featuring two stages; a broadcast studio, our infamous Radio Caravan, two workshops, an outdoor games area, karaoke bar and lots of space to relax and watch the world go by, we have created a safe and engaging area for young people to call their own.
Welcoming approximately 5-6,000 young people each year, we have worked alongside local and national partners to provide a variety of activities, including:
Music performance and workshops Access Creative College have run the hugely popular Inbetweeners Stage, featuring up and coming talent both on and behind stage. We have also been joined by musicians from the local New Gen project; local schools and other organisations and professional individuals. Workshops have included music production, MC and DJ workshops.
Young Reporters Print, radio, screen and podcast workshops, including the opportunity to be in print, on screen and on the radio! Delivered alongside BBC Introducing/ Radio, Future Radio, BBC Weather, Ipswich Community Media and Eastern Daily Press.
Film activities and workshops Animation, news and weather workshops to hosting our own cinema and having screenings, we have hosted a wide variety of film workshops delivered by a number of different organisations including BFI, Screen Suffolk, Sunrise Studios and many more.
Dance performance and workshops Programmed and delivered for us by our partners at DanceEast and including groups spanning different dance styles and cultures and coming to us from across the UK.
Theatre performance and workshops Delivered by our partners including Hightide Theatre and Grape Arts and including writing, performance, improv, comedy, fight scene choreography and more!
Fashion workshops Probably one of our most popular areas, we have hosted a variety of practical fashion activities including t-shirt printing, upcycling, styling and photography workshops.
Graphics, illustration Animation and games character design to creating totems, banners and graffiti workshops our fantastic friends like The Bubble Writer and Okido magazine have helped young people hone their skills and share their work with festival goers.
‘Thanks to all involved in the inbetweeners activities across the weekend. It’s really appreciated having these extra things at the festival for the kids and it’s the kind of exposure to media work that they might not have in our part of the world (rural Midlands is great for countryside walks, but not necessarily broadcasting work experience…)
A parent
I thoroughly enjoyed my experience at latitude, it was an amazing opportunity and I’m so glad I took it. The staff were all so lovely and helpful and it made it really easy to feel comfortable.
What an honour it was to play latitude 2022! I loved every moment of being on that stage with an incredible crowd, wonderful team but most important of all amazing energy. I can’t wait to come back!
Young Performers
