New Season of ‘BTS with Jess’ Featuring the 2025 CCYP Youth Impact Summit
Image: BTS with Jess Season 3 Episode 3: “Youth Arts as Activism”
The vibrant landscape of South Australian youth creativity is taking center stage once again as BTS with Jess returns for a third season on Channel 44 Adelaide and Channel 31 Melbourne. In a shift from previous seasons, Jess, creator and host of the show, dives deeper into the stories of young South Australian creatives by moving away from short segments and embracing longer-form storytelling to uncover the heart of the youth arts scene.
Season 3 features six episodes airing weekly on Monday nights at 8:30pm, focusing on how young people use the arts to build community, support the wellbeing of themselves and others, discover their identities, and tell their stories.
“This new season has 6 episodes, and they run once a week over six weeks. They are really in-depth stories,” Jess explains, “covering youth arts events, organisations and productions…I am really happy with this season.”
A core theme this season is the intersection of creativity and activism. Featuring interviews with some of our own Hub interns at the 2025 CCYP Youth Impact Summit, episode 3 explores how journalism and art feed into activism and advocacy.
“I'm really excited for people to hopefully see a new perspective on how youth arts can be used to create change and to drive impact in the community,” Jess shares about the Youth Impact Summit episode. “There's so many young people on this episode, talking about the different ways art has helped them to share their stories and make a difference, and how art has given them a platform.”
By showcasing these stories, Jess hopes to challenge the negative narratives often associated with younger generations and provide a media platform to help support young South Australian creatives. Jess emphasises that the show is rooted in a need for authentic representation. In a media landscape dominated by fast-paced corporate news, youth stories are often overlooked.
“Young people bring such a valuable perspective to the table. When there's no funding, there's no representation in the media, there's no support…they're going out there and they're doing it anyway, and they're using it to share their stories and to share their journeys, and that's something that should be showcased in the media.”
BTS with Jess is providing a dedicated space for young South Australian creatives to showcase their stories and journeys through the art they create.
Episode 3, featuring the CCYP Youth Impact Summit, is airing on Channel 44 Adelaide Monday 27th April at 8:30pm.
New episodes air every week on Channel 44 Adelaide and Channel 31 Melbourne at 8:30pm on Monday nights, with repeats throughout the week.
The episodes will be available on the CTV plus app and website for free after they have aired.
Watch BTS with Jess on CTV Plus: https://ctvplus.org.au/series/bts-with-jess/
BTS with Jess TV air times: https://www.btswithjess.com/watch.html
Channel 44 TV Guide: https://www.c44.au/tv-guide/
Interview Transcript
Megan (Hub interviewer)
You've got season 3 of BTS with Jess coming up, which is super exciting. What can we expect from this new season?
Jess (BTS with Jess creator + host)
So this new season has 6 episodes, and they run once a week over six weeks. They are really in-depth stories, more so than what I've done in the past 2 seasons. So longer form stories, covering youth arts events, organisations and productions. There's a lot of focus on regional youth arts as well on how young people in regional areas are connecting with the arts and what it does for them. So yeah, I am really happy with this season.
Megan
Yeah, great. So when you say longer form stories is that something that's new to BTS with Jess?
Jess
Yes, it is. So I haven't done too many longer format stories before. I started the show doing around 3 or 4 segments of all different things in the one episode. So it was relatively quick, 6 to 8 minute segments in the one episode of all different guests' stories and I think that was easier - I guess I didn't have to spread it out and make it so interesting over a half hour block. But as I'm getting into longer form stories with season 3, it takes a lot more effort to keep viewers hooked for that whole time and keep finding new things to unpack in that story. I'm getting better at it and yeah, it has been good to really get my teeth into some more chunky stories.
Megan
That's cool that you're exploring a new format and expanding your skill set. That's really cool.
So do you have a favourite moment from this season?
Jess
My favourite moment from the new season would probably be the Schools Challenge episode. It was definitely the most challenging shoot I've done. I mean, it's called Schools Challenge for a reason. It was great to go backstage behind the scenes of the Entertainment Centre and interview so many students and young people about their work and their journeys. It was really hectic. It was over 3 days at the Entertainment Centre. Just filming, going through SD cards, changing batteries, things would go wrong, because it's just the nature of filming. So it was really challenging but it was really fun and I would have to say that adrenaline rush made it my favourite moment of the season altogether.
Megan
That sounds super exciting and awesome. And so in this season, you visit some young people who are interning with us at CCYP and Hub at the CCYP Youth Impact Summit. What did you learn from that experience?
Jess
I learnt so much from the Youth Impact Summit. I think I've learnt a lot about youth arts and how it can feed into activism. You learn something new, and you talk to another person who shares their perspective and then another person who shares their story, and you just keep learning. And I got the chance to interview the Hub interns at the Hub stall and they shared about how journalism feeds into activism and sharing an informed perspective, and youth storytelling and how Hub also has artist interviews and showcases young people online. I think it's another platform for young people to put their work out there into the world and make a difference, and I think that's just so important and something that we need more of, definitely.
Megan
Definitely, I think we share a lot of similarities, in terms of wanting to create a space for young people, and to share what's relevant and important to them, through great media platforms.
What are you super excited for people to see in this episode with the CCYP?
Jess
I'm really excited for people to hopefully see a new perspective on how youth arts can be used to create change and to drive impact in the community, there's so many young people on this episode, talking about the different ways art has helped them to share their stories and make a difference, and how art has given them a platform. Someone from Carclew, talked about how music is a great way for young people to be loud and take up space and use their voice and be a form of driving change. But then there's somebody else who might use visual arts or something completely different, and they're also driving meaningful change as well. So I just think the arts are good fun, it's a great outlet for creativity, but it's also a great way to advocate. And that's something that I really hope people will take away from the episode.
Megan
Amazing. That is such a great message. And why do you think that showcasing young creatives in this type of space and this type of way is so important?
Jess
It's a really good way to share stories that often get overlooked by the really fast-paced corporate, commercial media that just grabs the latest story and often other things get overlooked. I think that’s where community media is so important - that it shares those types of stories that are underrepresented. It’s so important because young people bring such a valuable perspective to the table. I think a lot of young people, especially regionally, are building their own paths through the arts.
When there's no funding, there's no representation in the media, there's no support, there's not as much as there should be for the arts, but they're going out there and they're doing it anyway, and they're using it to share their stories and to share their journeys, and that's something that should be showcased in the media. I hope that’s something my show can do.
Megan
I definitely think there's, currently, lots of negative narratives or blame put on young people for certain things even when it's more the society that's been set up for us. So I think it's really important to have these kinds of pockets in the media, where it's showcasing really positive stories and being like young people are definitely capable and are doing awesome things.
Jess
Oh, yeah. It's for sure, I don’t want to generalise, but some people often look at the younger generation and go oh, you know they're not doing anything or they're lazy or whatever, but it's not always the case. And hopefully by putting these young people on my show, and by what you're doing on Hub, it might just help to break down that stereotype little by little bit and showcase the incredible work that young people are doing not just for themselves, but for the community.
I did another episode on the show, it was a collaboration with Barossa Wildlife Rescue, where young people in schools were doing artwork to advocate for issues like climate change and wildlife conservation, and I just think it ties back into the whole art as activism. There’s so many young people that are just incredible and doing so much important work, and it needs to be showcased.