Y Fest 2006 - thank you! thank you! thank you!

 

Thank you Y Fest-ers!

Many thanks to the incredible musicians & performers, great organizations, tireless volunteers and countless participants who came out to make Y Fest 2006 a fun and truly inspiring day!

The sun was blazing all day long, only to be out-shone by the tremendous talent, energy and passion each young person brought to the stage through their music, dancing, poetry and speeches about the issues that matter most to them!

We'd like to express a special thank you to Assemblymember Mark Leno, who made time in his busy schedule to demonstrate his commitment to youth involvement by delivering an inspiring speech and presenting both YPW & the SF Youth Commission with Certificates of Recognition from the California Legislature Assembly!

Photos:

Another special thanks to our photographer, Shari Young Kuchenbecker, who drove up from Los Angeles to capture the day for us. She took hundreds of photos of each musical group, performer, speaker and booth. If you were there, you are bound to be in one! Click here to check them out.

We will have even more photos from other volunteer photographers soon!

We hope that the energy of the day, captured in these photos, will help to inspire you to take action on the issues that matter to you - be they in your own community or somewhere across the world. If you are interested in starting a project addressing a global issue, please contact us.

As one Y Fest 2006 participant said of the day,

“I realized I could do something...”

We hope you will!

Photos: Shari Young Kuchenbecker

What is Y Fest?

• A free rally/festival celebrating the power youth have, as individuals and collectively, to make a difference in local, national and global issues.
• A day of music, spoken word, art, and speeches to celebrate the fact that young people are not the problem, but instead a critical part of the solution to problems faced by our community and world!

Why Y Fest?

• The name "Y Fest" was invented in 2005 by a group of high school students who were organizing the event. The Y stands for both Generation Y and Youth.
• The point of Y Fest is to celebrate and bring attention to the positive contributions that young people can and are making in the world, and to inspire others to do the same.

Performances: Incredible performances were delivered by (in order of appearance):

• Youth Movement Records
• The Oakland High School Jr. Mafia
• The Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble of San Francisco
• The Gnomes
• The DJ Project
• Belinda Lee & Friends
• Just Three Guys

Action: Thanks to everyone who participated in the following activities:

• YPW's Talking Wall - a place to write your thoughts on important issues.
• Speak Your Mind Video Interviews - a chance to speak up and out on issues important to you.
• Help Ski-ball AIDS Out of Tanzania. Ski-ball challenge to raise money for EMIMA.
• Letters for Change - A chance to write letters to government leaders on the issues that concern you most.
• Passport to Change - Our passport for visiting all the organization’s booths and entering the raffle for the many wonderful items that were donated!

Food: Thanks to Corners Café - a youth-run café out of Oakland's Youth Uprising – for cooking up delicious, affordable, youth-made festival food from their booth throughout the afternoon!

Raffle: Thanks to the many organizations, local businesses and Justin Herman Plaza Artisan Vendors for making our FREE raffle of fun prizes possible! Lucky winners walked away with items from Scharffenberger Chocolate, Clif Bar, Cat's Pajamas, Funky Door Yoga, Hands On Gourmet, Bridge for Africa, as well as Y Fest t-shirts, music CD's and more!

Y Fest Artwork & Ambiance: dalabil & the Visual Consciousness and A. Roberts helped our great space look phenomenal with colorful flags, our “Pillars of Promise” highlighting the 8 UN Millennium Development Goals, and beautiful Y Fest banners!

Organizations: Again we express a huge thank you to the following organizations for demonstrating their commitment to Bay Area youth and involving young people in their work! Thanks for partnering with us and making Y Fest an avenue for youth involvement!

	Alarm Magazine		IDEX
	ACLU Northern California		JYCA
	Amnesty International		LYRIC
	Bridge For Africa		Project Spera
	CELLspace Mission Urban Arts		Rainforest Action Network
	CHALK		Roots & Shoots
	CYWD		STAND
	Face AIDS		Uth TV
	Gay Straight Alliance		WILD
	Global Exchange		Youth Leadership Institute
	Global Fund for Women		Youth Bridge
	HOMEY

Volunteers: We were blown away by the number of people who turned out to support us! We truly could not have held Y Fest 2006 without you! From setting up tables, to helping coordinate back-stage, to surveying the crowd on the role of young people in the U.S., to just being there for moral support, our volunteers gave an incredible amount of time, energy, enthusiasm and even a bit of sweat to make the day happen. Thanks to each and every one of you!

Click here to see what happened at Y Fest 2005.

Y Fest 2006 was co-presented by the San Francisco Youth Commission

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