The countdown to CultureShock, North Yorkshire's unique youth arts festival, has begun. In less than two week's time thousands of young people will gather for the only youth festival in the country to offer a three-day greenfield-site event.

CultureShock, which takes place between 1st and 3rd July, and is now in its ninth year, is intended to allow young people across this rural, sparsely populated county, to attend a festival in a safe drug and alcohol free environment before they venture on to other bigger festivals elsewhere.

It is produced by Connecting Youth Culture, part of North Yorkshire County Council's 4Youth service and young people are involved at every stage of its organisation, playing a major role in the steering group.

The lead-in to the festival with music and dance performance training projects is an all-year round process. Young musicians with interests from classical to rock, rappers and dancers all then have the opportunity to perform alongside professional acts on CultureShock nights.

Similarly, a carnival parade which kicked off the CultureShock countdown and closed off Northallerton High Street last Saturday, involved young people drawn from youth groups across the county. They treated onlookers to a spirited performance of circus skills led by giant sculptures, many of the performers having trained at a recent "Let's Circus" skills residential run by Connecting Youth Culture. They will now go on to perform at The Big Show at the CultureShock festival itself alongside professional circus acts which include Japanese unicycling acrobats Witty Look, Australian pyrotechnic performers Flame Oz and fire hula hoop duo the Cowgirls from Downunder.

The festival includes three main events: The Big Show on Thursday July 1 with international circus performance; The Proms in the Park on Friday 2nd showcasing young people's work and open to the general public and the main festival event on Saturday. Over 4,000 young people are expected to attend and hundreds will camp overnight under supervision.

Charlie Land, a county council youth arts coordinator said: "We believe we are offering something very special and unique with CultureShock. It offers all-year-round involvement. A three-day dedicated event like this on a greenfield site gives young people a real chance to submerge themelves in music and performance of all kinds and arts practice in the widest sense in a safe environment. We have kept the ticket prices affordable so that as many young people as possible can benefit from all the arts opportunities on offer."

A huge range of music tastes will be catered for on Saturday July 3rd with dozens of bands offering rap in the hip-hop tent to new bands in the 6k Vision tent and acoustic performers in the Acoustic Chillout Café.

The line-up on the main stage includes White Light Parade, a short, sharp punk outfit along with Utah Saints making a comeback with their trail-blazing electronic music and Lethal Bizzle. North Yorkshire's The Squatters will headline the Urban Village Tent.

As well as performance, CultureShock offers a huge variety of workshops for people to take part in from digital animation to didgeridoo and school days on Thursday and Friday will involve over 2,000 children and young people.

County Councillor Heather Garnett, North Yorkshire's executive member for youth services said: "CultureShock has grown over the years into a great and unique event, a real opportunity for the county to celebrate the huge amount of creativity that is out there among our young people. It draws thousands of young people together for a weekend of brilliant music, art, drama and dance, creating an environment that is exciting and energetic but safe."