FARNHAM Maltings is delighted to present Spark 2017 – in its 10th year Spark annual youth arts festival is an artistic celebration of Waverley’s children and young people.

Spanning three days Spark 2017 includes art exhibitions, a dance-a-thon to raise money for Comic Relief, free creative workshops for seven to 25 year olds, plus a celebration performance of work for and by children and young people.

Friday, March 24, is the official launch of Spark 2017 and the perfect opportunity to present an array of art work created by local budding artists in graffiti, mosaic making, special effects, mixed media and photography, plus the evening will also feature the Young Artist Award Ceremony.

Inspired by the theme of ‘Vision of the Future’ the Young Artist Award attracted more than 100 entries with incredible diversity in terms of subject matter, ranging from the more apocalyptic to the sci-fi technological.

Judges Charlie Betts, Outi Remes and Paul Smith, chose five finalists from each media category, and three overall prize winners will be announced and awarded a certificate by the Mayor of Farnham, John Ward.

Saturday sees a whole day of free creative workshops in drama, dance, junk percussion, circus skills, African hand drumming, special effects and mosaic making - enabling more than 150 children and young people to take part, work with professional artists and learn new skills.

The Maltings is also raising money for Comic Relief through its dance-a-thon led by The Dance Movement. Just a £2 donation for taking part will go towards causes across the world.

On Sunday it’s the children’s chance to celebrate their mums in a Decorate a Cake with Mum workshop for all ages. Visit the Farnham Maltings website farn

hammaltings.com/category/festival/ to find out the festival timetable and how to book a place.

Spark concludes in an end of festival celebration performance on Sunday, March 26, where audiences will be able to watch performances by children and young people in a rich mix of dance, drama, music and film.

Wrapped around the weekend is the Spark 2017 community project that saw eight professional artists deliver participatory projects in photography, special effects, dance, graffiti, junk percussion, animation and mosaic making.

Between February and March organisations and charities – A Place to Be, Step by Step, Hale Sure Start Centre, Godalming Community Youth Service, Sea Cadets and Weydon School – worked weekly with professional artists to create new work that will be unveiled across the festival weekend.

A special film has been created to document the Spark community project and it will be premiered at the celebration performance.

Spark is made possible by funding and support from: Farnham Maltings, Waverley Borough Council, Arts Council England, Lions Club of Farnham, The Farnham Institute, The Hedgehogs and Stride Treglown.