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2015
Night of Festivals SPECIAL EDITION took place in Leicester, October 2015, to coincide with Rugby World Cup fixtures in the city! Click the link below to find out more
Three other fantastic Night of Festivals presentations also took place in 2015! Click the links, and watch the video below to find out more about them...
Lincoln
13-15 June 2015
The Great Magna Carta Weekend
From June 13-15 Lincoln hosted the Great Magna Carta Weekend, a special programme to celebrate the 800th Anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta, one of four originals of which is held and exhibited at Lincoln Castle.
Night of Festivals Carnival was presented in the City Square, Cornhill, High Street and Brayford Waterfront areas of Lincoln on Saturday and Sunday 13 and 14 June, with a special Magna Carta Night of Festivals carnival procession on Monday 15 June. The procession weaved a route from the High Street and up Steep Hill to Lincoln Castle, featuring our specially commissioned giant King John figure with an accompanying 20 metre long Magna Carta parchment and King John seal, led by local children and young people. Special thanks to young people and staff from St Francis School and Lincoln Castle Academy.
Supported by:
King John Figure
Mandinga Pigs
Mandinga Animated Skeleton
Mandinga Performers
Mandinga Giant Birds
Mandinga Frogs
Lincoln Statue
Mandinga Frogs
Mandinga Skeleton
King John and Mandinga Dogs at Lincoln Station!
Night of Festivals Lincoln: Gallery of Images
Hounslow
11 - 12 July 2015
Over the weekend of the 11th and 12th July, Hounslow town centre hosted a spectacular schedule of free Night of Festivals Carnival entertainment. With the help of the world renowned Mandinga Arts, Rhythms of the City and Sabar Sounds, Hounslow High St, Treaty Centre and Bell Square came alive with an array of colourful costumed processions and vibrant lively accompanying music.
Eighty community participants took part in carnival processions which appeared every 40 minutes from 11am-7pm on Saturday and 11am-5pm on Sunday. Estimated audiences of 20,000 experienced costumes and puppets (inspired by George Orwell's Animal Farm and by the Mexican 'Day of the Dead' celebrations) portraying frogs, cats, mice, pigs, dogs, sexy cows, golden birds, red birds, harlequins and fluorescent skeletons. There were fantastic contributions from Babel School of Dance, the Saga Indian Dance Group, Hounslow Community Hall, West Thames College and Speak Out in Hounslow.
Amongst the parades, audiences also caught a glimpse of a specially commissioned giant King John figure (with accompanying 20 metre long Magna Carta parchment and large seal) as part of the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta!
Night of Festivals Carnival in Hounslow was financially supported by Cultural Community Solutions and Inspire Hounslow. The Magna Carta celebration was made possible by Heathrow Community Awards.
Night of Festivals Hounslow: Gallery of Images
Sexy Pigs!
Giant Skeleton "high five"
Local Participants in Mandinga Costumes
Hounslow Crowds in town centre
Sex Pigs performing
Traditional South Asian Dancing
Giant cow head from Mandinga
Sabar Sounds
Mandinga dancing in unison
Supported by:
Barking
18 - 19 July
Night of Festivals was hosted by Barking on the weekend of the 18th and 19th July as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. The spectacular event featured a busy schedule of Carnival and Festival entertainment, running from 11am-10pm on Saturday and 11am-5pm on Sunday.
Carnival processions and street music paraded through the Town Square, East Street and Short Blue Place every 30 minutes. Audiences saw a fantastic array of colourful costumes and unique puppets (featuring an 80 strong contingent of local participants!) accompanied by vibrant Samba and Latin American music.
The site at Abbey Green also hosted an exciting programme of Festival activity. World music performances, as well as theatre and spoken word activities (including family storytelling and participatory workshops) were hosted in quirky venues such as the Mongolian styled "storytelling yurt” and the ArtReach “Nanoplex” - which showcased a prestigious selection of short films based on the themes of freedom and democracy
FULL PROGRAMME OF WEEKEND ACTIVITIES AVAILABLE HERE
The Festival was financially supported by Arts Council England and the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Funding had been provided by Awards for All, through the Boathouse, to enable an additional programme of complementary workshop activity to celebrate Magna Carta.
Supported by:
ACD Arts - Gumboots Drumming on Abbey Green
Magna Carta Procession with local young people holding giant scroll
Springboard East performing their children's show for the local community in Barking
Paraiso Samba performing to the crowds in Barking
Paraiso Samba in town hall square
Mandinga Mice
The Performance Dome
King John and Ripple Primary School's Samba Band
Natural Theatre performing on Abbey Green
2Magpies
Night of Festivals Barking: Gallery of Images
Leicester
2 - 4 October
+ extra activity until the 11th
Coinciding with the Rugby World Cup Celebrations
From 3-11 October 2015, Leicester played host to the Rugby World Cup first round stages, with teams competing in the city from Romania, Namibia, Canada, Argentina and Tonga. To mark the celebrations, Night of Festivals brought a SPECIAL EDITION to the city - which saw a packed programme of activities, performances and innovative artworks.
During a focused 3 day period between 2nd and 4th October, Night of Festivals SPECIAL EDITION presented a busy schedule of activities in the city centre. With live performance venues at Humberstone Gate and Jubilee Square, visual art installations (Plinth Project), moving image at the Clocktower, iconic carnival interventions from Mandinga Art, Paraiso Samba, Kinetika Bloco & Sabar Sounds AND participatory art workshops at Victoria Park...there really was something for everyone! Leicester also witnessed the first appearence of a special Night-Time carnival procession on Saturday 3rd October, which included an incredible troupe of illuminated stilt walkers (some of whom had inflatable costumes!) from Stelzen Arts and Oakleaf Creativity. Further Night of Festivals activity took place in the FanZone in Victoria Park until the 11th October, as well as carnival activity outside the King Power Stadium before each match. To find out more about Night of Festivals SPECIAL EDITION Leicester, view our programme brochure and calendar of activities, watch the video, or view the picture gallery below...
Programme brochure
Calendar of activities
Check out the footage from our Night-Time Carnival procession and finale!
Night of Festivals SPECIAL EDITION Leicester: Gallery of images
The Plinth Project: Lea Rasovzsky's "Be the Change"
Mandinga Carnival: Giant Skeleton and Tongan Lion
Stelzen Arts and Oakleaf Creativity: Costumed Stilt procession
Mandinga Arts: Tongan Carnival section
Mandinga Skeleton
Stelzen Arts and Oakleaf Creativity: Stilt Walkers in Illuminated Costumes for Night-Time Carnival Procession
Stelzen Arts and Oakleaf Creativity: Stilt Walkers in Illuminated Costumes for Night-Time Carnival Procession
Stelzen Arts and Oakleaf Creativity: Stilt Walkers in Illuminated Costumes for Night-Time Carnival Procession
Stelzen Arts and Oakleaf Creativity: Stilt Walkers in Illuminated Costumes for Night-Time Carnival Procession
Stelzen Arts and Oakleaf Creativity: Stilt Walkers in Illuminated Costumes for Night-Time Carnival Procession
Stelzen Arts and Oakleaf Creativity: Stilt Walkers in Illuminated Costumes for Night-Time Carnival Procession
Stelzen Arts and Oakleaf Creativity: Stilt Walkers in Illuminated Costumes for Night-Time Carnival Procession
Stelzen Arts and Oakleaf Creativity: Stilt Walkers in Illuminated Costumes for Night-Time Carnival Procession
Stelzen Arts and Oakleaf Creativity: Stilt Walkers in Illuminated Costumes for Night-Time Carnival Procession
Stelzen Arts and Oakleaf Creativity: Stilt Walkers in Illuminated Costumes for Night-Time Carnival Procession
FREEDOM project
ArtReach has developed a special collaborative relationship with European partners from Germany, Bulgaria and Romania with funding through the European Union (Creative Europe Programme).
Night of Festivals SPECIAL EDITION Leicester was the first in a series of presentations under the FREEDOM project, where innovative artwork will be used to explore the themes of freedom and democracy. Click here to find out more about FREEDOM.
Night of Festivals SPECIAL EDITION Leicester also saw the first glimpse of the Plinth Project - a series of innovative art installations designed to explore the themes of freedom and democracy. The Plinths are an integral part of all FREEDOM project presentations. Click the images below to find out more
Supported by:
