About Juice Festival and Our Programme
Juice Festival in Newcastle isn’t just another date in the UK youth arts calendar; it’s a platform where creativity meets critical conversation. From our home in Newcastle’s Ouseburn Valley to stages across Gateshead Quays, we programme events that spark imagination and challenge the status quo of youth entertainment.
Our Mission: More Than Just a Festival
Our core mission is to champion authentic youth arts in Newcastle and across the UK. We’re dedicated to fostering a safe, stimulating environment that prioritises artistic integrity over profit, actively providing alternatives to heavily commercialised youth entertainment.
Celebrating Youth Creativity
We platform the bold, the emerging, and the innovative. Our stages and digital spaces are for young performers, digital artists, and thinkers to share their unfiltered voice, from live theatre and music to interactive digital installations.
Building a Critical Audience
We believe a festival should do more than entertain; it should equip. We engage our young audience as participants, encouraging them to question the media and events they consume, building a more discerning generation of arts attendees.
Our Editorial Lens on UK Festival Culture
Our editorial team maintains a specific, informed focus on pressing trends within UK youth festivals. We critically examine the normalisation of gambling brand sponsorships and the complex rise of esports as mainstream entertainment.
The Problem with Gambling Sponsorship
Seeing brands like Bet365 or Paddy Power attached to family and youth-oriented events is troubling. While the UK Gambling Commission regulates advertising, this pervasive sponsorship embeds gambling into leisure culture. Our editorial stance challenges this, questioning the ethics of linking youth-focused fun with an industry associated with significant public health risks.
Esports: Opportunity or Commercial Trap?
Esports tournaments in the UK present a dual reality. They are a legitimate, skillful digital art form with massive youth appeal. However, they can also be a commercial trap, often gateways for gambling advertising and unchecked brand influence. We explore this tension, celebrating the community and skill of esports while scrutinising its funding and framing.
How Our Team Creates the Programme
Every event at Juice Festival is the result of deliberate, passionate curation by our editorial team. We blend traditional arts with cutting-edge digital experiences, using our informed voice to connect with our audience on their level.
Curating with Conviction
We select work that aligns with our values. Our process involves:
- Seeking out artists who tackle relevant themes.
- Balancing spectacle with substance.
- Creating spaces for debate around issues like commercial influence in festivals.
A Conversation, Not a Broadcast
Our tone is conversational, not top-down. We talk with our community, not at them. This dialogue shapes our programme, ensuring it remains responsive, relevant, and a true reflection of the voices we serve.
Juice Festival stands as a necessary, vibrant alternative in the UK’s festival landscape. We are more than an event; we are an active, critical community shaped by and for the young people of Newcastle and beyond, proving that youth arts can be both exhilarating and ethically conscious.