2014 sees the return of Youth Beatz to its original home of Dock Park, Dumfries. This year, we are proud to announce that Conor Maynard will headline Youth Beatz event. Following the successes we have had on the past five years in running the event with our partners, we expect thousands of young people to flock to newly refurbished Dock Park, Dumfries on Saturday 9th August to attend Scotland’s largest free youth/music event. Demand for tickets is expected to be phenomenal as this year’s event will be the biggest yet
Starting life as an actor Conor Maynard switched to singing in his mid-teens; hearing Conor messing about with his mates in the street, a girl at his school begged him to come and sing to the rest of her friends. It got him thinking that maybe other people would want to hear him too. Making his name online with captivating cover versions of Usher, Drake and the Kings of Leon, Conor’s innate ability to make other people’s tracks his own saw his online stats spiral stratospherically. Now counting 90 million combined YouTube views, nearly 1.73 million Twitter followers and almost 2.2 million Facebook Likes, Conor was also the winner of MTV’s fan-voted Brand New for 2012 in January.
Conor’s debut album Contrast was released in 2012 and quickly rose to the top spot on the UK Album Charts.
Conor said “This is going to be an amazing show to headline, I’ve heard about the atmosphere at Youth Beatz and Scottish crowds are always brilliant”
Now in its sixth year, the award winning event is managed through a partnership led by the Community Learning and Development Service Nithsdale in conjunction with the Oasis Events Team. Funding for the event has been secured from Nithsdale Area Committee and main event sponsor Unite and event sponsors Magnox, and West Sound. Other event funders include Domestic Abuse and Violence Against Woman Partnership, Choices For Life, Alcohol and Drugs Partnership, Celebrate, Inspiring Entrepreneurs and Dumfries and Galloway Elections Team.
Youth Beatz also sees the continuation of the , hard hitting immersive and interactive learning experience – The World of Wonka. Following last year’s great success, the fantastic World of Wonka returns and will deal with issues that affect young peoples’ lives. Topics addressed will include domestic abuse, poverty, alcohol, sectarianism and legal highs amongst others. Over 50 local young people will be involved in developing this and will be working all summer to put together this award winning educational experience.
Other attractions at Youth Beatz include a high profile daytime guest appearance, family attractions such as bike display team 3SIXTY, Scottish historical re-enactment group Swords of Dalriada, mobile ski slope, segways, inflatables as well as youth services information, local musicians and community groups stalls.
Councillor Ted Thompson, Provost of Dumfries said
“Youth Beatz and the World of Wonka is not just a music festival rather it is a community enterprise which encourages young people to take a pride in and to participate in their community. The event is specifically designed to do this at the same time offering advice to our young people on the social issues which affect society. Anyone who has seen the efforts made by the Oasis group in promoting this event and others such as the Christmas Lights in Dumfries will recognise the value it brings. I am delighted that Nithsdale Area Committee has again funded this, the largest free event in Scotland which is open to all young people in the region and I am sure it will continue to be as successful as that of previous years.”
We can also promise you that there are more acts to be announced in the coming weeks, so please do keep your eyes peeled! Youth Beatz 2014 is free to enter, although tickets will be required and can be obtained from the new look website – www.youthbeatz.co.uk Priority will once again be given to ticket applications from Dumfries and Galloway postcodes to ensure as many local residents get to attend the event.
Thomas Nicol, young person from the youth events team involved in organising the event said; “We can’t believe we have secured Conor Maynard as this year’s headline act, the event keeps on taking leaps and bounds forward. It’s brilliant for us on the events team to be involved in something so amazing that’s always trying to improve on previous years. Youth Beatz is a great chance for young people to come together and create something really special”
A major announcement will be made in mid-June about an exciting new development for Youth Beatz… This will see the event having its own fringe programme with different events running for 5 days leading up to Youth Beatz giving young people even more to do in the summer. Keep visiting www.youthbeatz.co.uk for more info as it becomes available.
