YOUNGSTERS got creative yesterday as part of the summer 'jam' in Newport.

The Urban Circle Summer Jam takes places all week until Saturday at empty retail shops on Commercial Street. The workshops are run daily from 2pm until 4pm and include fashion design, MC lyric writing and street dancing.

Urban Circle is a Newport based youth group for those aged between 11 and 25 and has been running for the past eight years. The empty retail space on Commercial Street was provided by Project Space which is an Arts Council and Newport City Council funded scheme which finds empty retail spaces for community use.

Loren Morris, project co-ordinator at Urban Circle a Newport based youth service, said: “The reaction has been quite positive to the workshops so far. Everyone has really enjoyed themselves.

“We’ve had about 20 people over the last three days but expect there to be near 30 tomorrow.”

She added: “The space has been great as we lost our space last year and wanted to put on the summer jam to regain physical presence in the city.”

The youth group will be putting on a showcase on Saturday to present the youngsters work from the workshops.

Sally Evans, arts development officer for Project Space, said: “The aim is to give people access to space for the community. It’s a place for people to get involved with the arts and get creative.

“We have secured funding for this year with the intention to be sustainable and continue to provide a place for people to use.”

The project will be running activities throughout the summer on Thursdays and Saturdays. More at projectspacenewport.wordpress.com