Court Theatre Announces 2021 Southside Youth Fest And Digital Art Contest

Court Theatre announces Court's 2021 Southside Youth Fest, inviting South Side teens to submit original digital shorts, storytelling, poetry, or prose in one of four categories.

The categories for this year's Southside Youth Performance Fest include "Take Action," focused on specific social issues; "Self Portrait," inviting teens to express themselves and share what makes them unique; "For the Culture," offering teens a platform to address an underrepresented aspect of their culture; and "Radical Futures," amplifying teens' vision for the world of tomorrow.

"In every wave of dramatic transformation in American history the young have led the way, with their innovative ideas and resounding voices raised to question systems that no longer work," says Kamilah Rashied, Court Theatre's Director of Education. "With this in mind, we're revisiting our annual youth fest to reconsider what our platform can and should do to support and amplify youth voices. Nothing could be more quintessentially American or more urgently needed at this moment in time."

This year's South Side Youth Fest is aimed at South Side teens between the ages of 13-19 currently enrolled in any Chicago Public School or Charter School on Chicago's South Side or any teen who is currently enrolled in any Chicago Public School or Charter School who lives on Chicago's South Side. Special focus is being placed on the work of teens residing in the Bronzeville, Douglas, Englewood, Grand Boulevard, Greater Grand Crossing, Hyde Park, Kenwood, Oakland, South Shore, Washington Park and Woodlawn community areas.

Content submissions will open on February 18, 2021 via Court Theatre's website at http://courttheatre.org/ssyf. South Side teens are invited to submit original content that they create that is no less than 30 seconds and no more than 3 minutes maximum in duration in the following digital mediums:

• Original Experimental Digital Short: video / 30 seconds to 3 minutes max
• Original Storytelling, Poem or Prose: audio OR video / 30 seconds to 3 minutes max

Voting will begin on April 23 at www.CourtTheatre.org/ssyfvote. Teens will be able to share their work with the public and encourage them to vote for their favorite stories through May 10, 2021. The festival submissions with the most votes across each category will be announced during a live festival viewing party on the evening of May 26, 2021, with the chance to win technology prizes that will take each winner's digital learning experience to the next level.