Our friends at Long Division – Wakefield’s largest music and culture festival – have secured £11k funding from Arts Council England for youth education in the Wakefield district, allowing them to further develop their award-winning programme this year.

The Access All Areas (AAA) education programme is a five-month course aimed at 16 and 17 year olds that works directly with the team behind Long Division. Achieving a Silver Level Arts Award awarded by Trinity College London, the GCSE equivalent qualification offers the knowledge to curate DIY events, explore career paths in the creative space and aid in the execution of Long Division itself.

We spoke to Dean Freeman, the Director of Long Division, to give us insight on the latest news:

“We’re delighted that we are able to keep delivering #YoungTeam in 2022, especially after winning our Best Education Initiative award in 2021. What we do is super grassroots; we don’t have classrooms to work out of or masses of resources. Instead, we focus on getting young people excited about music and culture, and through our festivals, give them a real platform to do amazing stuff. It’s really led by them and their passion. I can’t wait to see what they come up with in 2022.”

Tileyard North will be sponsoring the festival for the second year, taking place on the 11th of June in venues across Wakefield City Centre.

Long Division is actively looking for event organisers of the future to enrol in the programme, find out more information here.

Image credit Andrew Benge.