Hundreds of young musicians, dancers, actors and more are travelling from all across the world to the north-east for the official launch of the Aberdeen International Youth Festival 2017.
Since it started in 1973, the festival (AIYF) has attracted more than 30,000 young creatives and grown to become a major highlight of Aberdeen’s cultural calendar.
This year’s festival will officially commence with two special events on Friday and organisers said it promised to be “better and more varied than ever”.
Stewart Aitken, the artistic director and chief executive of the festival, said: “We’re officially launching the festival with a special event at Aberdeen University, and with a gala in Garthdee at the Inchgarth Community Centre on Friday.
“We’ve got a whole heap of new offerings this year to make the youth festival better and more varied than ever, including orchestral, dancer, and stage performers from a huge number of countries.
“From Spain, we’ve got a theatre group we’ve never had in Aberdeen before who will put on a piece about coming of age, and another new theatre group from Morocco.
“But closer to home, we’ve got a Scottish group called Collision who will also be in the city for the first time, so we’ve got a great deal of new theatre performers that will be giving their all this year.”
In addition to drawing in performers from around the globe, Mr Aitken said he is also looking forward to showcasing all the local talent from the north-east.
He said: “We’re having a local jazz band, Chinese and Indian dance schools, and a big band who are all from the area getting involved with the festival for the first time.
“We’re also got a new partnership with the Aberdeen Multicultural Centre, and we’re going to work together with them to put on a mela – which is kind of like a world music ceilidh – at Western Park on Sunday, where we’ll have lots of music, song, dance, food and crafts available for all the family.
“It’s all part of our efforts to help make Aberdeen a more inclusive city, and showcase all the culture that we have here.”
The festival will take place at venues and locations across Aberdeen and the north-east from Friday until August 5.
