Festival at a glance
As always, we’ve got plenty to whet your appetite during a packed Festival week. We hope there’s something for all tastes and in case you’re overwhelmed we’ve marked a few ‘Festival Highlights’ that we think you may like.
Our Arts in Schools Programme reaches new heights this year with an exciting menu that will enable over 5000 local children to participate in arts activities free of charge during the Festival week. The FLICK Children’s Cinema also makes a welcome return this year alongside our annual FLICK Film Festival, highlighting the work of local film-makers.
This year sees the launch of our new ‘artHOUSE’ – a temporary gallery space set up for Festival week as a home for some special visual arts. Also in this year’s Visual Arts Programme we have exhibitions in 30 venues across Chorlton, giving you an ideal excuse to make a creative break in your day. You can also create your own art as local duo Batty and Gorgeous invite you to ‘Make an Exhibition of Yourself’ in a workshop exploring what Chorlton means to you. If this doesn’t appeal you can assemble your own totem pole at Chorlton Nursery, contribute to the Birds of Chorlton Park mosaic project and shop amongst the skeletons at Unicorn. And don’t miss the new permanent works of art in Chorlton Park, with a chance to meet the artist.
This year’s Performance Programme includes over 90 events, over 70% of which are free, so if you can’t find something you like, we’ve really messed up! Take your pick from drama, dance, poetry, comedy and all types of music throughout the week. Our Music at Lunchtime series is packed with goodies and we’ve an exciting line-up for this year’s Late Night CAF. If you want to learn new skills we’ve got Salsa, Poetry and Creative Writing workshops, and a special ‘Gruffalo’ workshop for children.
This year we have open-air events on both weekends. On Saturday 17 May we have our annual Festival Saturday launch event with another vibrant Arts and Crafts Market. We balance this on Saturday 24 May with our new Manchester Road Arts event, live music all the way from Chorlton Library to Wild at Heart.
We close this year’s Festival with a real treat as we welcome international jazz singer Jacqui Dankworth and her Musicians.
Can 2008 get any better?