A NEW music and arts festival, which will showcase young local talent, as part of the lead-up to a multi-million pound youth centre opening next year, has been announced.

IP1 magazine and The Mix youth centre will put on Stix Festival, which will combine live music, film, performance and art, next month in Stowmarket.

Staff from the youth-led magazine IP1 and The Mix have been working together over the past few months organising creative activity sessions in the town for young people.

Young artists from the region will play the festival which will be held at the Museum of East Anglian Life in Stowmarket on September 15.

Among the acts to play will be Lewis Mokler – a 20-year-old singer-songwriter from Newmarket who will take to the main stage between 6pm and 10pm.

The day will start from 2pm with acoustic performances and a Blood and Guts! theatre workshop as well as textile and illustration activities until 6pm.

‘The Cinema’ will be running from 3pm to 6pm, playing music videos and film shorts.

Alongside Lewis Mokler on the main stage, indie three-piece Cathedrals and Cars, alternative rockers Pistols and Vultures, electro-funk group Whiskey Jax and dance act Refracture will be performing.

More information on the festival is available from www.ip1zine.com/themix

A planning application to demolish and rebuild the front of The Mix building in Ipswich Street has been submitted to Suffolk County Council.

A previous application was withdrawn last year after a Mid Suffolk District Council planning committee objected to the plans. The Mix is due to open in March next year.