NEWS & VIEWS
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But first, how about becoming a member of YACOS. YAOCS is the youth division of parent non-profit Arts Council of Surrey [ACS]. Just click the button below to access Membership Form and begin your journey as an emerging artist today!
MEET YOUR NEW YACOS COORDINATOR
Bucky Yaqub
Bucky Yaqub, a recent Simon Fraser University graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication, is the NEW Youth Arts Council of Surrey Coordinator! As a former YACOS volunteer, this queer Pakistani creative is excited to collaborate with youth and community leaders to reshape this fabulous program. With experience in fields such as marketing, event planning, arts, radio, and more; he is certainly equipped to take on this role’s responsibilities. Bucky infuses a creative edge with an energetic personality and cannot wait to show Surrey the power of gen-z and their artistry. Sign up to volunteer with YACOS today!
Email us today at youthartscouncil@gmail.com
This contest is for pre-YACOS Ages [4-12] - Find out what it is like to be a YACOS member [Ages 13-21] before you become eligible to join this Youth Arts Club!
“Spring in Surrey” Visual and Literary Art Competition! Deadline for submission April 28, 2023
Once again, we are looking for kids between the ages of 4 – 12 to send us their original artwork, poetry,or stories inspired by the Spring season. Take a picture of your submission and send it to us by email at artscouncilofsurrey@gmail.com. Please include your first name and last initial, as well as your age, parent/guardian’s contact information, and a title for your artwork.
Keep your artwork safe, because if you win, you’ll be asked to bring it to the Newton Cultural Centre for display!
This time there are three age groups: Sprouts for ages 4 – 6, Primaries for ages 7 – 9, and Juniors for ages 10- 12. We will choose one winner from each age group to win an awesome Arts-related prize. The winning works will be on display at the Newton Cultural Centre, and will be showcased in an upcoming issue of our Spotlight on the Arts magazine!
CITY | Surrey Slam Jam
Registration is now open for one of the City’s largest youth events! Join us for a basketball tournament, all styles dance battle, and an art showcase! Grab your friends for the 5v5 ball tournament which includes a senior, junior, and ladies category. The dance battle features judge Humuza!
Surrey SPARK Stages
Performing Arts for Kids
Our weekend celebration of performing arts for families is back. We have an exciting lineup of performances from Denmark, South Korea and Canada for babies, toddlers and tweens that grown-ups will love too. Come for the shows and stay for the magic! Ticket prices include all the fun activities you can explore between shows like puppet-making, dancing and surprise pop-up performances. Tickets are on sale now!
Art by Surrey Secondary Students
Now–May 6 | 10am–5pm | Surrey Art Gallery
Talented young artists throughout the Surrey School district showcase new paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures, digital media, and more. The work examines contemporary experience and ideas while demonstrating exceptional visual literacy and technical skill.
ABOUT YACOS
We are the Youth Arts Council of Surrey (YACOS)! We are a volunteer arts group run by youth for youth, and it’s our goal to create opportunities for young people in the arts. We provide these opportunities throughout the year through large-scale events such as talents shows, play-writing competitions, film festivals and fashion shows.
All of our members and participants are 13-21 years old, and either live or go to school in school in Surrey, BC. The Arts Council of Surrey (ACS) is our parent organization who provides us with a safe meeting space at the Newton Cultural Centre. The ACS provides us with a mentorship program and services to support our artistic endeavours.
We work on many annual projects such as a playwriting competition [Write On!], City-wide talent show [Surrey Shines!] a talent showcase [Canvas Coffee House], and a fashion show [Y.E.S. Runway]
By working on the youth council, we have the chance to discover who we are, to meet people from other backgrounds and to learn exciting new skills. At the same time, the events we organize are the perfect opportunities for Surrey youth to show off their talents to the community.
YACOS is currently working to provide opportunities for young people to become actively involved in the local Surrey Arts community. Our Youth Coordinator, an experienced Mentor from the Arts community, works with us to develop programs by and for youth. In 2004 the major community theatre project “Let Me Sing” raised enough money to help get us started.
The way we work is: Surrey’s youth provide the ideas and proposals, and then we get together with mentors in the community to make it all work.
MEMBERSHIP
OUR EXECUTIVE & MEMBERS:
EXECUTIVE
Amrit, Chair
Shubi, Vice Chair
MEMBERS: Wendy, Himadri, Fareed, Bakhtiar, Min Jy, Linda, Gurmehak, Tina, Pam, Simmie and Maro
Click button to access
PRINTABLE PDF MEMBERSHIP FORM
We welcome all questions you may have about the many benefits of becoming a YACOS member. Please call us at 604-594-2700 or email us at youthartscouncil@gmail.com.
Please fill out form and send to:
By Email: youthartscouncil@gmail.com
By Mail: 13530 72nd Avenue, Surrey, BC, V3W 2P1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/youth arts council of surrey
MENTORSHIP
When the Arts Council of Surrey established YACOS they knew that ‘experience is a great teacher’ when it comes to the Arts and the business of the Arts. To this end, the ACS set up a Mentorship program that young artists can tap into when creating work or producing events and fund raisers. Today YACOS enjoys an incredible synergy with a number of leaders in the business, municipal and arts communities.
ACS/YACOS COORDINATOR
Bucky Yaqub
CURRENT MENTORS
Petra Barker [Guildford Town Centre]
Beth Barlow [Chief Librarian, City of Surrey]
Catherine Bayley [School District #36]
Glen Chua and Tim Reyes [MOONLiTE Productions]
KC Gilroy [Former Coordinator]
Barb Gould [Writer]
Jarnail Singh [Artist]
Chris Thornley [Thornley Hayne Creative Communications]
Barb Wolfe [Surrey Arts Centre]
'YACOS PAST MEMBER' MENTORS
Paula Cooper,Kiran Dhillon, Trisha Dulku, Jaspreet Kalsi, Gurinder Kalsi, Winnie Liu, Lynn Vo, Isuru Withanage, Tina Yang and Tony Yang