On a cool Thursday night, my friend and I bussed down to commercial drive to hit up the historic Clutch theatre for a fun night of local contemporary art. The IGNITE! Youth Festival was happening for the week of May 15th - May 19th to showcase plays, spoken word, original music, and other fine talents. IGNITE! Youth Festival is Vancouver’s largest youth-driven arts festival, with members aging from 13-26 years old.

For the Thursday night show on May 17th, the theme was camping. The master of ceremonies helped the audience imagine the lake, bugs, campfire and dirty trails which surrounded us inside The Clutch. During intermission, complimentary s’mores and cereal were available for the audience and performers alike.A play about the characters Venus and Moon was very abstract yet captivating. I was impressed with the writing, acting, and delivery. A chemistry between the two actresses was present the entire act.

Another memorable performance was the spoken word. One poem was about the performers dragon tattoo. I doubt it was written for the light hearted; for vivid imagery of the colourful scabs, blood, and ink were in gruesome detail. The poem provoked disgust in me. However, like any good art form, to provoke means it did its job well.he talent level of all of the youth performers was very high; it has to be due to the obvious passion for their art form.

I am excited to say I enjoyed the event, and was very proud of the youth driven organization for putting on such a well organized and impressive showcase of local contemporary art.