A consortium of three organisations based in London and Manchester have been selected to receive a major grant from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation for the creation of a UK cultural festival of young people’s ideas. This will draw inspiration from the Agência Redes para a Juventude (the Youth Agency Network) in Rio de Janeiro. Their proposal was chosen from an excellent shortlist of ideas put forward by UK-based companies. The successful team said: “This project is about young people, creativity and our future. It is an adventure into the unknown.”

Battersea Arts Centre (BAC) in partnership with Contact, Manchester and People’s Palace Projects (PPP) will establish Agência UK, involving up to six urban hubs across the UK. A sustained period of R&D involving some 300 young people aged 15 to 25 years in the creative process will culminate in a 4-day cultural festival of young people’s ideas over the Easter weekend of 2015.