Dumfries & Galloway Standard

Youth Beatz moan is unfair on festival team

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Youth Beatz began in 2009, more than 200,000 people have attended the festival.

t years, the festival has asked people attending (if they are able to) to bring along items of food, clothing, toiletries or schools supplies which are then passed onto local food providers or services. This has been very much appreciate­d by the providers and proves again that the festival is having a massive impact on people living in our region.

Youth Beatz is not just the two main days. Hundreds of adult and young volunteers work to plan the festival for months leading up to the event in June. The Toon project delivers hard hitting youth informatio­n to young people each year, and throughout the year delivers sessions across the region. Included in the Fringe are events for young people with disabiliti­es, young parents and young people who have been in care.

As for the points raised on anti-social behaviour rates, these figures are confirmed annually by Police Scotland and once again show just how important Youth Beatz is in providing alternativ­e activities for young people.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but we ask that before you make up your mind, you read through more recent informatio­n about the festival which is available on the council website

We would like to finish by staying that Youth Beatz Festival provides hundreds of volunteeri­ng opportunit­ies for young people like us and adults who want to be involved in the festival.

The festival offers places for Duke of Edinburgh’s Award participan­ts to take part in their Gold Residentia­l, attracting young people to the area, and giving a unique experience to them.

In fact, in 2023, 186 volunteers helped deliver the festival, totalling more than 9,300 volunteer hours, contributi­ng an in-kind contributi­on valued at more than £125,000.

If events are going to be looked into with this much negativity, why not look into some of the others that happen each year in D&G?

We would be interested to see if they have as much of a positive impact as Youth Beatz.

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