Festival celebrates digital future

IN focus . . . Photographer Tolu Sholanke with Rumaisa Ahmed (11) photographing the east view of Oldham at the first ever Digital Festival in Oldham Library

2 More Image(s) In Gallery

THE FUTURE is digital for Oldham residents who embraced all things technological during the borough's Digital Festival.

Exciting activities, digital art and gaming workshops proved a real hit with people of all ages and tech ability at Oldham Library on Saturday.

The purpose of the festival, which was a joint venture between Oldham Council and theatre and multimedia art company Peshkar Productions, was to offer residents a chance to try new technology and boost their digital skills.

People could create their own video game character, learn coding from the BBC Make It Digital team and create art with the best professional digital artists around.

Glen Meskell, project officer for Peshkar, said: "It's been a really busy festival and we've had all sorts of people attend, from young people teaching their parents about the digital world to older people want to explore the benefits of things such as online banking.

"We've been holding workshops in the run-up to the festival at places including Oldham College, Oasis Academy Oldham and Mahdlo, and some of the students came along to help and take part. As an arts organisation, events like these are about social inclusion.

"Almost all young people are digitally native these days, so we work with young artists who have a strong digital element."

Artist Sufea Mohamad Noar, who works with print and collage-making, helped young people make collages about how they use digital technology in their daily life before transforming it into a digital upload.

She said: "Some young people described their love of YouTube while others said they used the internet to watch videos of cats. The project showed how discarded everyday materials can be turned into digital artworks."

Paul Coslett, from BBC Learning, showed visitors how to use a micro:bit - a small codable computer - to write flashing messages or link up to and drive a robot buggy.

He said: "The micro:bit enables all young people to learn about coding. Everything in the future will include some sort of coding, so being here today is about showing children how it works and getting them to understand it."