Hi Huneybees,

The SHINE Youth Festival returns with a fiery heart for the community this year! Themed 'ASPIRATIONS', SHINE 2012 enables youth to unleash their aspirations and passion for the community through 2 brand new innitiatives - Pitch to SHINE and Pledge to SHINE.

The SHINE Youth Festival 2012 Media Conference kickstarted with a dance performance by Gleeful Moments (Pitch to SHINE finalist. John and Deniece Glee Studios).

"When we first heard about the new Pitch to SHINE, we were excited as the theme 'Aspirations' resonated well with our dream of organising a Singapore Inter-School Show Choir. We are proud to have been one of the six teams to be given the Gold Award and the grant will go a long way in turning our aspirations into reality" --- John Khoo, Vocal Director of John and Deniece Glee Studios

So what's sizzling at this year's SHINE Youth Festival? Let Mr Martin Tan, Chairman of SHINE 2012 Steering Committee and Mr Muhammad Nabil, Co-Chair of SHINE Organising Committee tell us all.....

(Left) Mr Martin Tan, Chairman of SHINE 2012 Steering Committee (Right) Mr Muhammad Nabil, Co-Chair of SHINE Organising Committee.

What's different this year is the 2 new initiatives - Pitch to SHINE and Pledge to SHINE.

Pitch to SHINE

The inaugural Pitch to SHINE was launched early this year to identify and fund youth projects that promote worthy causes and make a difference in the community. A total of 16 projects with the themes 'Youth Culture', 'Youth Sports' and 'Youth Action' will be carried out during SHINE 2012.

The Pitch to SHINE grant aims to further the development of youth leaders and organisations, providing these groups with a platform to pursue their interests and advocate causes they believe in. The grant will be an incubator for the ideas of today's inspired youths, enabling them to enact positive change in the community.

"By launching this new grant, we wanted to encourage youth to take action and lead ground-up initiatives that would benefit the community. We are heartened to support 16 deserving projects this year and hope to see more groups come forward next year with even more dynamic and engaging ideas" --- Lynette Lee, Member of the SHINE Youth Festival Steering Committee

Pledge to SHINE

In the spirit of getting youths to Fire Up Their Passion!, a new portal, Pledge to SHINE, has been launched for the youths to pledge their aspirations. Targeting at youths aged 15-35, Pledge to SHINE hopes to ignite a renewed commitment in youths to actively contribute to their communities. Riding on the wave of youth social movements like Project Hello Stranger and Writeboarding by Rediscover.sg, NYC hopes to inspire and enable more social movements amongst the youths today, spurring them to find unique and creative ways to have a positive impact in today's society.

So what would you pledge?

"The purpose of Pledge to SHINE is to enable youth to break their aspirations down into actionable and achievable tasks, and at the same time, benefit the community." -- Martin Tan, Chairman of the SHINE Youth Festival 2012 Steering Committee

Psst, there are also attractive prizes to be won, such as this powerful and versatile Dell Alienware X51 desktop for the person who garners the most number of votes. So sign up, pledge and share those pledges with your friends on Facebook. This will spur your friends to vote for your pledge or make their own pledges.

* Those aged between 15 and 35 as at 31 December 2012

Below is a list of the upcoming events for SHINE Youth Festival 2012. Click on it to see the events in more details....

Out of so many events, some were highlighted and introduced to us at the media conference. Let me elaborate more for you...

Luminance! Youth Light Art Festival

Venue: *SCAPE
Date: 23 June 2012 – 1 July 2012
Time: 7.00 pm to 12 midnight

Nights of whimsical light art and pulsating performances awaits you at Luminance! 2012.

Featuring renowned and established artists, emerging Singaporean talents and overseas youth artists, Luminance! boasts of art pieces that are both imaginative and ingenious, aspirational and thought-provoking.

Feel the heartbeat and soul of emerging Singaporean artists and be inspired as you soak up an atmosphere of infectious artistic energy.

A pic with DidierNg, the creative brain behind Serenity and Bartholomew T, Cardboard Architect and the maker of the Cardboard Tron shown above.

Come to Luminance! – Singapore’s first light art festival by youths, for youth and be part of the inaugural festival celebrating art, youth and community!
Website: www.luminancefestival.com

The Dell-Intel Youth Concert

Venue: Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza
Date: 30 June 2012
Time: 7.00 pm to 9.00 pm

Happening from 7pm to 9pm, the Dell-Intel Youth Concert is set to get youths gyrating to the music of YouTube sensation Jayesslee, local veteran singing duo Jack and Rai, and up-and-coming local YouTube star Clarence Liew.

It’s a free-for-all concert with 300 priority standing tickets to be won. There are also 100 tickets to Jayesslee’s Meet & Greet session up for grabs. Both draws will be held on 22 June 2012, so if you’ve made your pledge, keep your fingers crossed! If you’ve not done so, what are you waiting for?

Jayesslee
This Australian duo comprising twins Janice and Sonia opened a YouTube channel back in 2008 and hasn’t looked back since. In 2010, they played their debut concert in LA and has since performed in Singapore, Washington DC, Vancouver and Malaysia. They’ve also made various television appearances throughout Asia.

Jack and Rai
Former band members of East India Company (the resident band of Wala Walas), Jack and Rai compose their own music and recently released an album titled “In Stores Now”. The dynamic duo not only keeps their audience entertained with their music, but also with their jokes.

Clarence Liew
Only 19, Clarence has quite a following on his YouTube channel – an achievement for someone who has neither been trained musically nor vocally. His folk-like vocals bring a soulful quality to his covers of popular and classic hits.

Dreamcatchers – The Quest

Venue: Goodman Arts Centre
Date: 27 July 2012 – 29 July 2012
Time: All Day

A creative visual art exhibition featuring artworks created by our adolescent patients with chronic illnesses depicting the theme of “Aspirations” with the central messaging that chronic illnesses are not disabling. The event will showcase our youth talents with the aim of creating public awareness about childhood chronic illness.

Artists: Alvina Neo (Left) and Bernard Toh (Right)

Sketches of Alvina.

Alvina's artwork will be making use of the oxygen mask....

What will Bernard's work be like?

SSYC & APYC (Yoyo Competition)

Venue: Hougang Mall Atrium
Date: 13 July 2012 – 15 July 2012
Time: TBC

Watch top yoyo performers compete in the Singapore Yoyo Competition and Asia Pacific Yoyo Competition, where the overall Champion of Champions will win a chance to compete with the finest at the USA World Yoyo Competition Finals.