LONDON.- The National Portrait Gallery is to host its first ever Private View exclusively for young people (Monday 29 July 2013, 18.30 – 20.30). For the first time, the Gallery will be open in an evening just for those aged between 14 and 19, giving them an exclusive opportunity to enjoy after-hours access to the BP Portrait Award 2013 exhibition.

The Young People’s Private View is free and offers young people the chance to meet BP Portrait Award-exhibited artists who will be leading drawing activities in the Gallery spaces. Other activities include drawing sessions led by other artists, Gallery talks led by young people and music throughout the evening. Refreshments include specially made juice ‘mocktails’. Competitions will take place during the event, giving young people the chance to respond to the BP Portrait Award 2013 and give their feedback on the evening, with great art prizes.

For the evening, the Gallery spaces will be open just for young people aged 14-19, although parents/guardians are welcome to drop off and collect the participants.

The event will be hosted by the Gallery’s Youth Forum, a peer-led group of young people who help develop activities and have been closely involved in developing the content, promotion and atmosphere of the Private View. Over half of the current Youth Forum membership is made up of young people who have previously participated in BP Portrait Award: Next Generation, showing that the project has a legacy of engaging young people in portraiture. Some of these young people have paintings they made in Next Generation Summer Schools in 2012 on display in the Gallery, and will be talking about this experience on the night.

The Private View is a key part of BP Portrait Award: Next Generation, an innovative project which encourages young people to get involved with portraiture through the BP Portrait Award, meeting artists and connecting with other art-interested young people. Next Generation has been running since 2010, and will continue until 2017 as part of BP’s ongoing support of the BP Portrait Award. The project has involved nearly one thousand young people and seventy BP Portrait Award-past winning artists in Taster Sessions, Summer Schools and developing portraiture-based digital content.

The Gallery has especially extended the deadline for the BP Portrait Award: Next Generation three-day Summer Schools to Tuesday 30 July, giving young people attending the Private View the opportunity to put in an application for these three-day opportunities with painting and life drawing, with input by past BP Portrait Award-winning artists.

Young people aged 14-19 may RSVP by email to bpnextgeneration@npg.org.uk. Places at the Private View will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.