NOISEfestival.com the Europe-wide media showcase for young creative people aged 25 and under, opened its website doors for submissions last month at 11 Downing Street.

The launch was hosted by Rt Hon Andy Burnham, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport with a special introduction by Yvette Cooper, Chief Secretary to the Treasury. NOISE trustee Wayne Hemingway also gave an inspiring speech to a packed audience that included Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling; Manchester music legend, Badly Drawn Boy; NOISE 2006 Curators, fine artist, Stella Vine and digital designer, Danny Brown in addition to a host of industry professionals and national press

More than a hundred invited guests heard Designer, Wayne Hemingway describe how the virtual festival had opened doors for dozens of artists. He said: “It doesn’t matter what background you’re from, it doesn’t matter what qualifications you’ve got, you just get on there and do it. And it’s international; you get the chance to pit your skill levels against people from Australia, Europe or from America. It’s probably the most exciting thing a young person can get involved with.”

Culture Minister and MP for Leigh, Andy Burnham said: “Everything we want to achieve is based on the idea that young people who are full of talent can aspire to work in our booming creative industries. We should make it as easy as possible for them to do so and give them the support they need to do it - too much is still based on who you know, do you know someone who works in the music industry or have you got a contact. It should be much easier for people to burst onto the scene and this is what NOISEfestival.com is all about”.

The Chief Executive of NOISEfestival.com, Denise Proctor, understands the difficulties young people have to overcome to be noticed and sees the virtual festival as a way of putting their work up for everyone to see. She said: “Confidence is one of the hardest things to gain when you’re an unknown artist and a lack of it means your talent may remain undiscovered. The most difficult thing is to have your work seen, to get it out there and have people look at it – putting your work on-line puts it in front of a global audience and some of the UK’s most successful creative brains”.

NOISEfestival.com accepts any creative work across all disciplines; including music, film, fashion, design, architecture, written word, graphic design, fine art and illustration. During Summer 2008 NOISE Curators, a panel of acclaimed industry professionals will select the best work to showcase on the NOISE website and across the media. Curators lined up for NOISE Festival 2008, and officially announced at the launch include; Zaha Hadid (Architecture), Tom Dixon (Product Design), Norman Rosenthal of the Royal Academy of Art (Fine Art) and James Sommerville of Attik (Graphics, New Media and Advertising).

During the festival in October 2008, www.NOISEfestival.com  will spotlight the best young creativities and their work. In addition, top NOISE talent will also hijack the nation's press via our media partners, including BBC, MTV and MSN and loads of creative magazines will provide features, profiles and programmes. NOISE Festival 2008 will also stage exclusive events, exhibitions to profile young artists work to help kick-start their careers, and secure a credible, far reaching platform to promote their work.

If you’re a bedroom genius and want to get recognition for your talent, you can submit up to 6 pieces of artwork to NOISE Festival 2008 now. Simply head to www.NOISEfestival.com  create a profile and upload work. Anyone can sign up for the NOISE newsletter for opportunities and ideas, and it's free to take part!

For more information on how you or your organisation can get involved in NOISE Festival 2008 email: info@noisefestival.com