Allow us to introduce ourselves… — A look inside the PuSh Youth Academy
January 29, 2015
The PuSh Festival is pleased to offer the PuSh Youth Program for 16- to 24-year olds, to nurture budding dance, theatre and music enthusiasts of Vancouver—from the cautiously curious to emerging pre-professionals. The PuSh Festival has created a program that ushers young people through to the rich world of the performing arts by making it accessible, engaging and entertaining.
We asked Youth Program Intern Georgia Johnson to share her insights from inside this group of ambitious and forward-thinking youth.
Allow us to introduce ourselves….
… We are the 2015 PuSh Youth Academy, a group of 11 individuals, ranging in age from 15 to 24 years old, from all corners of the globe (and with equally diverse interests and backgrounds within the field of the performing arts), but who currently reside in Vancouver. This extraordinarily talented bundle of young men and women includes aspiring dancers, writers, actors, stage managers, directors, and musicians.
Led by local playwright/performer Dave Deveau, the PuSh Youth Academy (part of the larger PuSh Youth Program) was designed to usher the “curious and inquisitive” young performing arts lovers of Vancouver city through weekly meetings leading up to and during the Festival, as well as by attending several PuSh shows together. Since the first of our weekly gatherings back in December, we have been discussing various topics under the umbrella of performing arts, and chatting with industry professionals who have already begun charting their own paths in the world of the arts.
What excites me most about this unique collection of young people is the keen spark of curiosity and willingness to learn, combined with a real sense of drive. In one of our first meetings, we posed the question to the group, “What do you really want to do?” The consistent response from the whole room was “I just really want to make s*** happen!” There is a sense of enthusiasm, of joy in creativity that radiates throughout the Youth Academy. In a later meeting, it was revealed that the dream of many participants in the group is for some shared collaborative creative space, a place where collaboration, creation, and community can collide. If the Youth Academy is a small but true sample of the Vancouver youth at large, then I’d say we have quite the passionate, compassionate, inspired, highly creative and intelligent bunch of young lads and lasses on our hands!
Georgia Johnson
PuSh Youth Program Intern
PS: Keep an eye out for more Youth Academy blog content over the next few weeks!
If you’re between 16 and 24 years old, and interested in the performing arts or in meeting new people, consider joining the PuSh Youth Program! There are many ways to participate: see shows for only $5 on the Youth Passport; start your career in the performing arts with work experience in the Young Ambassadors and Youth Volunteer programs; or, join the Youth Academy to talk art in depth!