Art for Youth North, Queen Mary’s School, Topcliffe

More than 600 works will be on sale: paintings, etchings, ceramics and sculpture by artists living and working in the north.

Since 2001, Art For Youth North has taken place every two years, duly becoming part of the Yorkshire artistic and social scene.

Its aim is to enable established and promising new artists to show work and to raise funds for UK Youth through the “gallery fee” of 30 per cent from sales being donated to the youth work charity.

In 2007, more than £36,000 worth of art was sold over two evenings and, with the additional support of ticket sales and sponsorship from North East law firm Dickinson Dees and Bonhams, the event raised £23,000 for UK Youth.

This charity assists more than 750,000 young people nationwide, encouraging social inclusion and helping the most disadvantaged and isolated to build self-esteem and develop the skills to gain entry to training and employment.

North Yorkshire Youth provides practical assistance to 100 voluntary youth clubs, working with 1,500 young people each week in a rural county where youth clubs are often the only place or activity outside of school hours.

This year’s show will gather together 80 artists, working in a range of media and styles at prices ranging from £25 to £1,500.

Exhibitors will include Harrogate painter Emerson Mayes; Lancashire painter James Naughton; Piers Browne from Askrigg; John Degnan from Barnard Castle; Richard Snowdon from Harewood; Susan Wilmot from Stokesley; and Susie Dugdale from Cleveland.

The northern span is further exemplified by Paul Blackwell from Whitby; Jim Wright from Kirkbymoorside; Alexander Breeze from Bedale; Janis Goodman from Leeds; Paul Laugier from York; Helene Shovlar from Hawes; Sue Moffit and Sarah Riseborough from Northumberland; and Paul Stone from Sheffield.

Emerson Mayes will be exhibiting for the fourth time.

“As a Yorkshire artist, it’s always a pleasure to exhibit work that was completed only a few miles away, and this is made all the more meaningful when supporting a charity as important as UK Youth,” he says.

A new element for 2009 is a side exhibition of Mystery Pictures: small original artworks the size of a postcard that will be displayed and sold for £30 each. All these artworks have been donated to Art For Youth by the artists, some well known, others less so. The paintings are signed on the back so the identity of the artists is revealed only after purchase.

Lord Crathorne, Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, will open Art for Youth North 2009 at an evening reception on Thursday, April 2, for which tickets cost £10 in advance or £12 on the door. The exhibition will be open to the public, free of charge, from 10am to 4.30pm on April 3 and 4.

• For a full list of participating artists and ticket-booking details, visit the website ukyouth.org/getinvolved and select Art for Youth North 2009.