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Arts Council to hold district-based youth festivals

Youth festival 2017 to include mentorship programme to provide opportunities to underprivileged kids

Our Correspondent August 11, 2017

The Arts Council president said a team of trained experts and professionals will visit 100 schools and colleges under this programme. PHOTO: MOHAMMAD AZEEM/EXPRESS

KARACHI: District-based youth festivals will be organised in six districts of the city before the Karachi Youth Festival, announced Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi President Ahmed Shah on Thursday. He said the festival, which is being held in December, will include a mentorship programme.

“The youth festival aims to eradicate elements of extremism and terrorism from the minds of youth and project their energies towards healthy and creative activities,” said Shah while addressing a press conference at the Arts Council on Thursday.

Speaking about the mentorship programme, he said it will be carried out before the start of the festival. This is the first time in the 10 years since the inception of the festival that such a programme is organised, he said. The Arts Council president said a team of trained experts and professionals will visit 100 schools and colleges under this programme. This will help training and mentoring talented students and individuals who would not otherwise get an opportunity or platform to pursue their hobbies and passions while studying at institutions located in remote or neglected areas of the city.

Youth Festival held at the National Museum of Pakistan

Through the mentorship programme, we aim to provide confidence and expertise to these students and make better citizens out of them, said Shah. The mentorship programme will be organised in three categories - singing, theatre and declamation.

He said that this time they will be organising district-based youth festivals in the six districts of the city to engage and reach out to a maximum number of students and young people from all corners and of the city that are often neglected. After successful completion of all these projects, the main event, the Karachi Youth Festival 2017, will be held in December. Shah said that activities and opportunities of such nature are imperative to eradicate and minimise elements of extremism and terrorism from the minds of our youth.