Shoalhaven embraces its future with Youth Week Events

The talents of young community members, aged 12 to 25 years, were showcased and celebrated through the Council's Futures Fair and Futures Fest events.

Here is run down:

Hidden from the wild weather, the Futures Fair event went ahead in new entertainment venue, El Horses in Nowra. The fair kicked off with the Youth Pathways Expo, which brought together 20 local service providers who were able to connect with each other and provide advice to young people on the many opportunities available to them once they finish school. Services include local employment agencies, youth services, education providers and community centres.

The highlight of Futures Fair was the celebration of upcoming local young filmmakers who were able to launch their My Home - Youth Short Film Festival. The nine short films selected celebrated stories of place and showcased coming of age and the sense of belonging and connection particular after the fires, floods, and the pandemic. These films were made by the very talented emerging filmmakers on the South Coast: Harry Keilly (Kangaroo Valley), Ryan Twemlow (Berry), Alyssa Head (Basin View), Nate Sharpe (Shell Cove), Jack Newton (Narooma), Dan Jayasuriya (Nowra), Olivia Hodgkins (Tapitalee), Bronte Guggisberg (Kiama), and Isaac Podmore (Shoalhaven Heads). Over 50 family members, friends and community members came to celebrate the films launch and many expressed how impressed they were with the work of the young filmmakers. These talents have been fostered through the hard work of Southland Creative Inc staff and mentors and the support of the Screen rights Cultural Fund.

The evening concluded with a free family friendly movie - 'Shazam!', thanks to Optus who have been providing the Open Air Cinema Roadshows across the Shoalhaven in partnership with Council.

Young Shoalhaven stars came out to perform at Futures Fest at the Ulladulla Civic Centre. The event involved a battle of the bands style music festival with schools from Nowra to Moruya represented. A huge amount of talent was shown on the day with solo performers and bands from year 7 to year 12 performing.

Congratulations to our winners who won the hearts of the crowd:

Over 100 community members came to cheer on their favourite bands and band members noted that Futures Fest was a "great opportunity for young people to perform and for us as a first-time band we found it was a brilliant environment". Enhancing the festival experience was the attendance of local food trucks, thank you to local businesses Fatcat Burgers, BNS Party Supplies Ice Cream and Clyde River Berry Farm ice-cream for attending the event.

The term Future is us! was coined to emphasise how exciting the future of Shoalhaven's arts scene is with the talent coming through from these young community members. Shoalhaven City Council is encouraged to see how energetic the community is in fostering and celebrating the talents of our young people.