Court Theatre Announces 2022 South Side Youth Fest, Supporting The Art Of South Side Teens

Court Theatre, under the continuing leadership of Charles Newell, Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director, and Executive Director Angel Ysaguirre, announces Court's 2022 Southside Youth Fest, inviting South Side teens to make and share original digital stories.

Teens are encouraged to share what they want to say about their vision for the world, an issue they care about, or an aspect of their culture. The South Side Youth Fest is open to any teen ages 13-19 who currently lives on Chicago's South Side and any teen who is currently enrolled in a South Side school. Content submissions will open on February 1, 2022 via Court Theatre's website at http://courttheatre.org/ssyf.

"It's important that we center young people, and particularly youth of color, in uninhibited expression that represents their point of view. I remember being in arts classes as a teen and not feeling represented by who was teaching, what was being taught and who was being canonized through the artists presented to me," comments Kamilah Rashied, Director of Education for Court Theatre. "I had to rely on outlets in my community to feel seen and to see that people like me were worthy of being commemorated through the arts. If we want an arts landscape of the future that is more representative of our country, we must make the uplifting of young voices of color a priority. As a theatre whose mission is to tell stories that are both timely and timeless, we have an exciting opportunity to redraw the margins of what our theatre can do in support of youth artists on the South Side of Chicago, through this project and beyond."

South Side teens are invited to submit original content that they create in the following digital mediums:

a-? Original Digital Short video - 30 seconds to 3 minutes in length as an .mp4/.mov for video submissions. File size should not exceed 100mb.

a-? Original Storytelling poetry or prose in audio OR video - 30 seconds to 3 minutes in length as an .mp3/.wav for audio submissions OR an .mp4/.mov for video submissions. File size should not exceed 100mb.

Voting will begin on March 1 at www.CourtTheatre.org/Vote. Teens will be able to share their work with friends and family and encourage them to vote for their favorite stories through March 21. The top four festival submissions with the most votes will be announced on Court's YouTube channel on the evening of April 7, 2022, with the chance to win a laptop that will take each winner's digital learning experience to the next level.