NOTTINGHAM.- World Event Young Artists, a new international arts festival for artists aged 18-30 today Friday 15 June, announced the programme for its festival in Nottingham from 7-16 September 2012.

During the 10-day showcase of creative talent of all kinds, 30 venues around the city will host exhibitions, performances, concerts and workshops by 1,000 young artists from 100 nations including Brazil, Russia, China, India, Iran, USA, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Israel, Syria, Spain, San Marino and the UK, offering the public a unique opportunity to experience arts from the four corners of the world. WEYA will mark a spectacular finale to the Cultural Olympiad in the East Midlands.

The participating artists’ work spans a wide range of art forms and mediums from the videos of Lv Dongyuan, a Chinese computer games developer, to comedy-theatre of UK based performance duo, Bane and the contemporary dance of Julio Dimitri Soh Takambo, a member of the National Ballet of Cameroon.

A media hub set up by young people and the Mighty Creatives and will be at the centre of a daily programme of activities in Nottingham’s Market Square for the duration of the festival. Nottingham City Arts in Education Co-ordinators will deliver an extensive schools programme and City Arts Nottingham will hold an intergenerational set of exhibitions and participatory events.

On the opening Saturday, the festival will host a day of music curated by international DJ and WEYA ambassador Gilles Peterson, who has selected artists to perform throughout the day before ending the event with a live DJ set.

Sunday will see Nottingham’s Market Square lit up by the Sunday Fiesta, a celebration of sound and colour featuring live performances and music including Mandala, a bold new commission that fuses live 3D projections with international and British Asian music and dance.

Performances and workshops will also take place at Nottingham Playhouse, Lakeside Arts Centre and The Royal Centre, while artist films will be shown at the Broadway cinema. A series of exhibitions will take place throughout the 10 days at venues including Nottingham Castle, New Art Exchange, Primary and the Bonington Gallery at NTU. Award winning Nottingham designer Paul Smith has personally selected one artist, Lauren O’Grady to host for the duration of the festival: Her science fiction inspired sculptures will provide a surprising addition to his flagship Nottingham store.

Lakeside Arts Centre will display artworks by 35 artists from countries including Greece, Egypt, Thailand, Namibia, China and the UK spanning a wide range of practices from painting to 3D light installations. It will also host the World premiere of The Beginning by Michael Pinchbeck, his first stage appearance since vowing never to perform again.

Other host venues include Backlit, PRIMARY, One Thoresby Street, The Crocus Gallery, Surface Gallery, Malt Cross, Lace Market Gallery, Nottingham Photographers’ Hub and Lace Market Theatre.

Further installations, performances and exhibitions will happen around Nottingham during WEYA. ParkinProgress is a three-year, pan-European creative and cultural collaboration between UK Young Artists and 5 other European partners, which sees emerging and professional artists take over a park or green urban area to create an art space. For 2012, the project will coincide with WEYA and take place at Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery, with artists working within the Castle grounds and surrounding parkland.

Silke Pillinger, Director of World Event Young Artists, comments: “World Event Young Artists is a rare opportunity to see the work of original creative talents from all corners of the globe, but what makes it genuinely unique is the opportunity to meet all of the artists involved. They way in which the Nottingham will be transformed during the 10 days is going to be a truly unique experience for all who attend.”

The artists taking part in WEYA were chosen by independent selection panels in each partner nation, comprising curators and programmers from a range of international arts venues.