Youth Performance Festival Intro Video
Northampton High School Feature 2023
the youth performance festival!
The Youth Performance Festival is a collaborative program of Play Incubation Collective and the Northampton Center for the Arts at 33 Hawley, in partnership with Holyoke Media. Now in its 7th year, YPF is a FREE opportunity for youth artists ages 8-18 to create original performance pieces with the guidance of mentor artists in the fields of music, dance, theater, poetry/spoken word, video/animation, and more. YPF centers the creative agency of young artists, and is committed to supporting them as they discover their own creative processes. For YPF 2026, we are partnering with Holyoke Media to offer a Holyoke-based youth cohort in addition to the Northampton cohort as part of our ongoing commitment to expanding YPF in Western Mass. YPF is an outstanding festival experience that warms hearts and inspires creativity in audience members of all ages!
In order to participate in YPF, all you need to do is fill out a REGISTRATION FORM (link coming soon) and come to the 1st session on Sat Dec 6th. Registration will be open between Nov 15th-Dec 7th.
The Youth Performance Festival is a FREE program 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.)
Business sponsors can scroll down for more information. For individual donors, please use the links below and note YPF in the memo line of your donation!
YPF 2026 Schedule:
Sat. Dec 6: 10:00-10:30 Holyoke Info Session & 10:30-12 Session 1 | 2:30-4:30 Northampton Session 1 , 4:30-5:30 Info Session
Sat Dec 13: 10-12 Holyoke Session 2 | 2:30-4:30 Northampton Session 2
Sat Jan 3: 10-12 Holyoke Session 3 | 2:30-4:30 Northampton Session 3
Sat Jan 10-12 Holyoke Session 4 | 2:30-4:30 Northampton Session 4
Sat Jan 17: 10-12 Holyoke Session 5 | 1:30-4:30 Northampton Session 5
Sat Jan 24: 10-12:45 Holyoke Session 6 | 1:30-4:30 Northampton Session 6
Sat Jan 31: 10-12:45 Holyoke Session 7 | 1:30-4:30 Northampton Session 7
Thurs Feb 5: 4-7pm Dress Rehearsal for CAST A
Fri Feb 6: 4-7pm Dress Rehearsal for CAST B
Performances: Sat Feb 7th at 2pm and 6pm, and Sun Feb 8th at 1pm, and 4pm
(All youth artists will be in 2 out of the 4 performances and will know which cast they're in by Jan 24th)
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 Inaugural Youth Performance Festival (February 2020, in person):
Performance photos by Liz Walber of Northampton Open Media
Rehearsal photos above by Kelly Silliman