Hallowe’en Festival gets £48,000 windfall
Funding boost means it will be all fright on the night
Pa i s l e y ’ s p o p u l a r Halloween Festival has been given a spooktacular £ 48,000 funding boost from the Year of Young People event fund.
Young people will take centre stage at this year’s two- day fright-fest, which takes place on Friday, October 26, and Saturday, October 27.
The parade and finale on Saturday, October 27, will be inspired by Renfrewshire’s dark and deathly 17th century witch history. Around 500 young people will take part in the parade which will, for the first time, feature a number of floats.
The parade will culminate in an aerial performance, The Flying Witches, involving a cast of 50 young people and led by All or Nothing, one of Scotland’s leading aerial dance theatre companies.
A panel of 20 young people from across Renfrewshire will also take a leading role in helping design and deliver the event, working in partnership with Renfrewshire Council, youth services and creative and community partners.
Leader of Renfrewshire Council, Councillor Iain Nicolson, said: “Paisley’s Halloween Festival is always a popular event for the town with thousands of people coming into the town centre to experience the full spectacle of the event.
“It’s fantastic that this year’s festival will be a highlight event as part of the Year of Young People 2018 celebrations. This provides an excellent opportunity to realise our ambitions of co-production and co-creation of our events in collaboration with young people – this is a key part of our event strategy 2018 – 2021.
“This collaborative approach and the various training programmes being delivered will also help our young people develop their skills enabling them to think more about career opportunities in the creative sector that they may not have otherwise considered.”
The funding is also helping set up a Youth Training Programme to give 180 young people experience and skills in areas like creative performance, costume, make-up, technical production, marketing, and event design and delivery through taster sessions and masterclasses.
The funding will also support a volunteering and internship programme in the council’s events and marketing team as well as mentee opportunities with arts and cultural professionals.
The Year of Young People event fund is managed by EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s events directorate.
Paul Bush OBE f rom VisitScotland said: “We are delighted to be supporting Paisley Halloween Festival to expand its offering as part of Scotland’s Year of Young People 2018 celebrations.
“It will be fantastic to see young people getting hands-on experience and participating in the design and delivery of a fun event within their local community.
“It is a great opportunity for them to showcase their own unique skills and bring a new perspective to the festival, further reinforcing Scotland as the perfect stage for events.”
The Year of Young People 2018 is a Scottish Government initiative consisting of a yearlong programme of events and activities. It aims to inspire all ages through young people aged from eight to 26 by celebrating their achievements, valuing their contributions to communities and creating new opportunities for them to shine on a local and global stage.
More information about the event programme for Paisley Halloween Festival will be released in the coming months.