Upcoming open mic is a celebration of diversity for Oxford County youths
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Woodstock youth will have a night of their own later this month when the Rainbow Youth Oxford hold its first ever open mic night.
The Rainbow Youth Oxford Coalition is a group that provides support to LGBTQ youth in Oxford County and are associated with CAS, Oxford Child and Youth, as well as public health.
Jennifer Paquette, chair of the upcoming event, said that the event, called Amplify Yourself, is for all youth in the community between the ages 14 and 21.
“It’s for young people across the board,” she said. “When we were working on our committee with LGBTQ youth, they told us that what they really wanted was to work together with all youth to promote diversity in their community. So that’s what this event is about.”
There are a number of performers set to take the stage at the upcoming open mic night, Paquette said, including a number of musicians and singers, as well as spoken word poets and comedians.
“There’s a good variety to the show,” she said. “The other exciting thing is that we have a singer-songwriter from Toronto coming to headline the event.”
The headliner is Nefe, an R&B artist from Toronto who is releasing a new album later this month.
Paquette said that tickets will be $5 per person and available through schools and at the door.
“We want to stress that this is not a fundraiser,” she said. “The event is about awareness, about diversity in youth, and so it was very important for us to not have money be an issue in terms of youth being able to come or not.”
Amplify Yourself will take place at the Market Centre Theatre in Woodstock on April 23, with doors opening at 7 p.m.
“The message (of the event) is that there is a lot of diversity in our youth and that we’re celebrating that,” Paquette said. “All youth are coming together to say that they celebrate the unity of youth and the diversity of youth without judgment.”