Press room

Young Barbican Takeover

Sunday 29 March, 12pm – 6pm

Barbican Centre

Tickets are £12, or £10 for Young Barbican members

On Sunday 29 March, the Young Barbican Takeover returns to the Barbican. The one-day festival features a line-up of live performance, workshops, film screenings, a makers market and a roller disco, transforming the Barbican Centre with events taking places inside our iconic Conservatory, Cinema 1 and Foyer spaces, curated for and by London's emerging creatives.

The Young Barbican Takeover Festival is an opportunity for London's young creatives aged sixteen and over to come together, explore the Barbican and share ideas. Championing collaboration with collectives and communities that are actively shaping the UK's vital arts scene and empowering young people, the Young Barbican Takeover is an engaging, inspiring day for the next generation of London’s artists, activists and innovators. 

Creativity in all forms is celebrated during the Young Barbican Takeover. For the crafters, there is the opportunity to knit and crochet a collaborative tapestry with Craft Forward, take part in rosette badge-making with Material Grrrlz, and join a zine making workshop with Artizine. Throughout the day, the Makers Market on Level G Foyer will showcase offerings from London’s creatives, from ceramics to jewellery to handcrafted zines.  For those musically minded, there will be live music with IRL sessions taking place in the Level G Studio throughout the day from local London talent – listen in to “intimate, real, live” sounds with silent disco headphones – as well as live performances curated in partnership with Shai Space and Sad Club Records.

In the Garden Room, there will be dynamic workshops from Rain Crew, a community powered hip-hop dance collective who promise a mash-up of breaking and activism, and an energising drama workshop from Compass Collective, an award-winning arts charity supporting young refugees and people seeking asylum. Rounding out the day, DIY publishing house and creative network ARCCA - A Real Creative Community Archive - will hold a workshop on how to start a label or publishing house of your own. 

Meanwhile, Cinema 1 hosts screenings curated by SplicD Cinema, Ifriqiya Cinema, and T A P E Collective, all alumni of Barbican Young Film Programmers; their programmes celebrate African diaspora as well as women of colour both behind and in front of the camera, with a full list of films to be announced soon. Over in the Conservatory Well, Barbican Young Poets are joined by special guests from across London’s vibrant poetry scene for a day of poetry performances in one of the Barbican’s most iconic spaces. And on the Conservatory Terrace, members of each collective featured at Young Barbican Takeover will be present throughout the day at the Conversation Corner, offering provocations for conversation and to make connections with attendees.

Finally, our Level –1 Foyer Space will be transformed into a roller rink for the day, with multi-award-winning, community-led roller-skating collective Skate Cabal running inclusive Learn to Skate sessions for beginners and open sessions for more experienced skaters. Skaters will be accompanied by a day-long takeover of fresh new talent from Roundhouse's young DJs, soundtracking the roller disco with a range of sounds and good vibes.

Young Barbican Takeover runs from 12pm – 6pm. The festival welcome desk will be open from 11am for ticket holders to exchange their ticket for a wristband on arrival. It is recommended that audience members arrive at least ten minutes early to each session to avoid disappointment. For more information, visit the webpage.