First world young artists festival opens in Britain

LONDON, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- The World Event Young Artists 2012, the first of such cultural festivals ever held for young artists, kicked off on Friday with 1,000 young artists from 100 countries showcasing some of the best creative talents from around the world.

During the 10-day event in Nottingham city, central England, there will be various forms of activities incluidng exhibitions, performances, concerts and workshops.

More than 40 Chinese artists aged between 16 and 30 have brought their works, including paintings, sculptures, installation art works, photos and music to the event.

"World Event Young Artists is a rare opportunity to see the work of creative talents from all corners of globe, but what makes it genuinely unique is the opportunity to meet all the artists involved," said Silke Pillinger, director of the event.

Terry Shave, a professor with the Nottingham Trent University, said: "Following the successful U.K. Young Artists event that took place in Derby in 2010, we perceived a clear need to provide a platform, here in the U.K., for emerging young artists to collaborate with their international counterparts within a large scale, cross-artform festival environment."

"It is a really good opportunity for us to exchange views with artists of other countries," said Wang Rui from Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

Zheng Xuewu, an artistic director with the Beijing Studio Center, one of the partners of the event, said the young Chinese artists they selected for the event were outstanding in China, and their works were chosen after six months of assessment by experts.

"We want to present an international platform for China's young generation of artists," Zheng said.

The artists taking part in the event were chosen by independent selection panels in each partner nation, comprising curators and programmers from a range of international arts venues.