Arts & Culture
Songs & Scones at Hucknall Library: April - July 2026
Who doesn’t love a cup of tea, a lovely scone and some social music-making?
Nonsuch and Captivate’s annual festival, TAKEOVER happened on Saturday 7 March at the Four Seasons Shopping Centre in Mansfield. A number of spaces in the centre were transformed through the creativity and artistic visions of young people and artists, including Inspire Youth Arts' very own exhibition at the old Gonk World shop!
On ‘The Stage’ in the heart of the Four Seasons, the morning began with energetic dance performances by Julie Shacklock School of Dancing, followed by Inspire Youth Arts Rock School bands. The bands performed original tracks and covers to an audience of over 700 people in an hour! The buzz and atmosphere surrounding the stage all day was brilliant, and over 1000 people engaged throughout the performances, which featured an array of dance, theatre and music by young people.
Our exhibition featured multiple works from recent music and digital projects. Proto-Type, our digital mentoring programme led by Urban Projections, exhibited work from their project Glitch Rituals, which delved into what happens when technology breaks down and AI takes over. We shared a series of still images taken during the project, as well as the short film, with music produced by Jimmy Power and our Electronic Music Production students. Watch the Glitch Rituals film below.
Work by young people from Adoption East Midlands and the YMCA was also on display in print and digital form. A massive thank you to all of the young people involved in the exhibition work and to artists, Samantha Peberdy, Tom Bacon, Matt Miller and Natasha Poland who worked on these projects. Watch the short film.
Virtual Reality (VR) headsets were available for the public to have a go and experience worlds built by Proto-Type for the Able Orchestra 360 showcase in November 2025. It was wonderful to see children and families fully absorbed in the city-scape, which is captivating and colourful! For lots of people, it was their first time in a VR headset. In total, over 300 people engaged with our work in the shop.
Thank you to everyone who was involved in creating work for Takeover and for helping to bring it all together! Find out more about our digital projects and how to get involved.
