The mayor of Seville, Juan Espadas, at today’s presentation of the new programme of activities for the city’s young people – source: Seville city council
Autumn is going to bring about big changes for the youngsters of Seville this year, as the city council launches a new programme aimed at addressing the weekend "botellones" - kids gathering in the streets and parks of the city to drink and party until all hours.
"Our goal is to offer a wide range of activities so that young people can enjoy their free time in a safe, fun, healthy way, sharing interests and hobbies with each other," said the mayor, Juan Espadas, at today's presentation of the programme of cultural, sports and leisure activities that start this month.
The main axis of this initiative is the 'Espacio Joven' - a dedicated area for young people, which will open on September 25th and will run until December. Every weekend, four civic centres in the city will open on Saturday nights and on Sundays until 6:00 pm.
They will put on a host of different activities, all of them free of charge, such as an escape room game; video games, including FIFA and Fornite tournaments; activities related to Japanese culture, animation and cosplay contests; digital spaces to learn how to take videos and photos with smartphones; board games; dance; climbing; modeling; robotics and battlebots; make-up and characterisation; and futsal are just some of the activities included in this extensive programme.
In addition to the 'Espacio Joven', the City Council has also committed to expanding the range of cultural activities aimed at young people, with ten free, open-air shows, which will take place from next Saturday and until the 26th of this month. The Lope de Vega and Alameda theatres will also launch a specific programme for young people, to add to scheduled festivals such as Monkey Week and Nocturama.
Another aspect of this initiative is free educational courses for young people as part of the 'Fórmate Joven' programme. This virtual platform of non-regulated online courses for people under 30 years of age offers up to 500 free and interactive courses, which translates into some 10,000 hours of vocational training.
