New festival in Derbyshire highlights young people's artistic talents

The Reimagine Festival, running in Derby on July 23 and 24, offers a packed programme of performances and workshops in its mission to highlight wellbeing and sustainability.

A key venue for the festival is The Tramshed, one of the city’s most historic buildings, which had until recently, lay empty for decades.

Highlights of the Reimagine Festival include:

Saturday, July 23:

1pm – Derby City Saviours Parade with Artcore, travelling from Osnabruck Square to the Tramshed. With a performance, puppetry, music and more, young participants will travel through the city to the year 2060 bringing important messages about the effects of climate change.

5.15pm-7pm An ‘Open Stage’ hosted by New Generation BLM and featuring upcoming professional artists, including Idi Akz and Tdot at the Tramshed. Idi, who is 16, and was born in Nigeria, has recently begun to release records of his own music, racking up more than four million plays on Sound Cloud and he has more than 20,000 followers on Instagram. Tdot is a 20-year-old rapper/singer/songwriter/producer based within Derby. Tdot has just finished working on a project with Zimbo Freemind, the founder of UK gangster rap.

Sunday, July 24:

12.45pm-1.15pm – BMX Display, DJ Set and Music all taking place outside The Wardwick

11.30am – 12pm Finders Keepers with Derby Theatre, co-created with writer Simon Marshall. Children from Bemrose school perform a play written by children from Stockbrook, Derby. Finders Keepers, inspired by the children’s novel Treasure Island; is set inside a Den made from all the rubbish collected from the local park. Not everything left, lost or abandoned is rubbish, sometimes it can be a treasure.

Beth Davies, a young person who has been involved in developing the Reimagine Festival, said: “Highlights of the festival have been having the freedom to fully develop and create spaces that truly reflect our own styles to represent important issues, such as the environment.”

Reimagine is a free event that runs from 10:30am-8pm on Saturday, July 23, and from 10:30am to 3pm on Sunday July 24.

Across the weekend, festival-goers can get involved with workshops focusing on crafts, beat making, puppetry and ribbon making, a graffiti wall and a puppet walkabout.

Live performances, films and workshops will be held at The Tramshed at The Strand, films and workshops at QUAD in the Cathedral Quarter whil The Wardwick (old Library) at The Strand will host a craft area, chill-out space and restrooms.

Lauren Barkes, producer of Reimagine,, said: “Young people right across the city have been creating everything for this festival from the bunting to the performances. Our Future Creatives have worked with us at Derby Theatre on all aspects of producing the event, whilst schools and community groups have worked with arts partners, Déda, Artcore, Sinfonia Viva, Hubbub Theatre, QUAD and Baby Sensitivity. The young people wanted to bring colour back to the city following COVID. They’ve certainly done that and we’re really proud of what they’ve achieved. Come and take a look!”

For more details, go to www.derbytheatre.co.uk/reimaginefestival

Reimagine has been funded by Arts Council England, Derby City Council and DofE and is a partnership between Derby Theatre, Derby’s Cultural Education Partnership and the University of Derby.