the youth performance festival!
The Youth Performance Festival, a collaboration between Play Incubation Collective and the Northampton Center for the Arts at 33 Hawley, is a FREE opportunity for youth artists ages 8-18 to create original performance pieces under the guidance of mentor artists in the fields of music, dance, theater, poetry/spoken word, and video. YPF centers the creative agency of young artists, and is committed to supporting them as they discover their own creative processes. In 2024, we were excited to partner with Make-It Springfield to create a Springfield-based youth cohort as part of the long term goal to expand YPF in Western Mass. YPF is an outstanding festival experience that warms hearts and inspires creativity in audience members of all ages, and we look forward to YPF 2025!
The 2024 Youth Performance Festival is sponsored in part by the Amherst, Northampton, South Hadley, and Hadley Local Cultural Councils, local agencies that are a part of the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
We are deeply grateful for our 2024 business sponsors, Art Always, A2Z Science and Learning Store, Dostal Eye Care, Greenfield Savings Bank, Renew Pilates, Wohl Family Dentistry, and Workroom Design Studio, as well our Angel Donors, Peoples Bank and the Spero Charitable Foundation. Thank you also to our media partner, Northampton Open Media.
Questions? Email sarah@playincubation.org.
The Youth Performance festival is a FREE opportunity for youth artists, and mentor artists are compensated fairly for their work. We could not do this without the support of our community, and donations are gratefully accepted throughout the year.
Are you interested in sponsoring YPF as a business or an individual? We need your support! Please contact Kelly Silliman at kelly@nohoarts.org for more information. (All other inquiries, please email Sarah Marcus at sarah@playincubation.org.)
For individual donors, please note YPF in the memo line of your donation!
Media:
The Fabulous 413: A Challenger, a Collaboration, 10/24/23 (start at 22:22)
Daily Hampshire Gazette: Finding That Creative Spark by Steve Pfarrer, 2/12/21
Interview on Talk the Talk with Bill and Buz on WHMP 2/9/23:
https://whmp.com/podcasts/live-in-the-studio/
Interviews with Monte Belmonte on WRSI - 93.9 The River:
https://wrsi.com/monte/sonic-youth-back-in-northampton/
https://wrsi.com/monte/gen-zoom-makes-art-the-youth-performance-festival/
https://wrsi.com/monte/find-a-mentor-for-your-budding-artist-youth-performance-fest/
https://wrsi.com/monte/maybe-a-mentor-makes-sense-for-your-kid/
Photos from the 2020 Youth Performance Festival (February 2020, in person):
Performance photos by Liz Walber of Northampton Open Media
Rehearsal photos above by Kelly Silliman