Free Time

Fest en Fest – Youth: Young Person Takeover

FEST EN FEST - YOUTH

Since autumn of last year, Metal has been working with H2DANCE on their project, Fest en Fest – YOUTH, inviting young people to come together and think about what a festival of the future might look and feel like.

H2DANCE have been exploring what the future generation of arts and performance makers might
be interested in, and giving them skills and opportunities to start working and collaborating together. In collaboration with local artists, they want to help young people develop a voice, and use it. To understand that it is ok to speak up and to demonstrate against unfairness and inequality, to become proactive activists in developing and owning their future.

What’s Fest en Fest?
Fest en Fest – YOUTH is inspired by H2DANCE’s Fest en Fest, an international festival of choreography initiated out of an urgency to create space and performance opportunities. Through performances, talks, lunches and parties, H2DANCE wanted to make space for artists and audiences to come together to present works and ideas, to discuss, provoke, influence and be a force for change.

Fest en Fest – YOUTH puts young people at the heart of the festival, giving them ownership of what spaces they would like to make and create; inviting young people to come together to initiate, run and curate a festival as they want it to be, commissioning artists to deliver workshops, perform or display work.

In 2022, Fest en Fest – YOUTH will run across four locations: Peterborough, Colchester, Cambridge, and Serta Portugal! The Peterborough H2DANCE have been working with Peterborough College and their Art and Design, Media and Graphic Design students. The young people will be selecting three Peterborough-based artists to work with in collaboration to activate a space.

Fest en Fest – YOUTH will have its UK premiere in Peterborough during the Peterborough Celebrates Festival at Nene Park (13, 14 and 15 May). The students will be taking over a tent on Sunday 15 May, programming artists, decorating the space, and running the show themselves! It’ll be a great chance for the young people to gain practical experience in the arts and see the many jobs and skills required to pursue a career in the arts.

YOUNG PERSON TAKEOVERWho is H2DANCE?
H2DANCE is choreographer/performer duo Hanna Gillgren and Heidi Rustgaard, working between Norway, Sweden and the UK since 1999. Their work sits between performance and dance and can
be characterised as interdisciplinary, often taking a humorous approach to serious subject matters. Hanna and Heidi have an ongoing fascination with meetings of differences, exploring ways in which we negotiate hierarchy, conformity, power and manipulation. Their work is often informed by workshops and conversations with people of different ages and backgrounds, and these encounters influence and inform the ideas and aesthetics of the work.

Where, when and how can you take part?
You can catch the group at Peterborough Celebrates on Sunday 15 May, where they’ll be taking over a tent and filling it with artists and activities. You can keep up-to-date by following @MetalPeterborough on socials for the latest updates, timings and program.

Are you a creative young person with an interest in music, visual arts, digital arts, choreography, fashion, film, theatre, lighting, architecture, immersive performances, or anything else creative that excites you? H2DANCE wants to hear from you. To find out more email –

For more information on H2DANCE and Fest en Fest go to www.h2dance.com, www.festenfest.info

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