Festival 2010 Report
Many thanks to everyone who contributed to making the Arts Festival such a success last year, especially to our sponsors, all the artists and volunteers who made it happen and all the people who came and enjoyed the events, writes Claire Cordeaux, chair of last year's festival. We think that we had an attendance of about 3000 over the whole period which is fantastic.
What people said:
“I’ve lived in Debenham for years, but I had no idea there was such talent here!”
“I’ve never been to Debenham before, but I came over for the festival – it’s such a lovely place, I’m definitely coming back”
Highlights of last year’s festival:
We had really good attendance at the literary events – 60 people came to see Bernardine Evaristo, having read her book “Hello Mum”, thanks to the Resource Centre’s Community Read programme. Given that there was an England match on at the time, this shows how much Debenham festival-goers appreciate good writers and there was a great discussion about her books. The primary school also enjoyed an afternoon with David Bedford.
It was good to see so many people at the Friends in Deed’s Mid-Summer Medley in St Mary’s Church, with an eclectic mix of music and spoken word all in aid of charity.
The Pantaloon’s Macbeth performed in the open-air, drew a mix of young and old and although some of the younger ones found Macbeth “a bit scarey”, everyone agreed it was an excellent performance .
We had some great exhibitions last year – apart from the excellent Art Exhibition that takes place every year – it was good to see so many photographs entered into the Picturing Debenham competition and hope everyone was able to see the very high standard of photography displayed at Debenham Leisure Centre. A lot of people also took the opportunity to look at and participate in the Roundabout Pre-School exhibition of work on light and shade.
Of special mention was the unique sound installation “ Half my Life Ago”. Created by Mike Challis with local people, these sound recordings of individual perspectives of life in Debenham could be heard through headphones as people walked around the green. The recordings are all on the Arts Festival website and are a wonderful record of life in our village.
The film “Tenacity on the Tasman” was a great success – probably because it featured a Suffolk hero and there were some local links with Debenham and Woodbridge.
The Urban Debenham session outside the Resource Centre was a new exciting event. You may have seen the graffiti art that was created by over 60 young people on the day. It is now being exhibited at the Youth Club. We have had lots of great feedback about this event, although some people were a bit worried that graffiti would appear all over Debenham, this has not happened and it was good to be able to get young people really involved this year.
As usual there were lots of music events. Well done to Twisted Piglet who won the Battle of the Bands, Robert Brown played to a very appreciative crowd at the Debenham Folk Club. You may have noticed musicians on the street on Saturday – all adding to the festival ambiance, and the Leisure Centre’s Music Day had a lovely atmosphere, drawing over 300 people.
The Debenham Arts Festival brings together lots of people in the community with different talents and ideas, and what we do changes every year as different people get involved. It is an exciting programme and we would welcome any contributions to this years festival.
If you would like to get involved, contact us through the website, or on Facebook or come along to the next meeting.
What people said:
“I’ve lived in Debenham for years, but I had no idea there was such talent here!”
“I’ve never been to Debenham before, but I came over for the festival – it’s such a lovely place, I’m definitely coming back”
Highlights of last year’s festival:
We had really good attendance at the literary events – 60 people came to see Bernardine Evaristo, having read her book “Hello Mum”, thanks to the Resource Centre’s Community Read programme. Given that there was an England match on at the time, this shows how much Debenham festival-goers appreciate good writers and there was a great discussion about her books. The primary school also enjoyed an afternoon with David Bedford.
It was good to see so many people at the Friends in Deed’s Mid-Summer Medley in St Mary’s Church, with an eclectic mix of music and spoken word all in aid of charity.
The Pantaloon’s Macbeth performed in the open-air, drew a mix of young and old and although some of the younger ones found Macbeth “a bit scarey”, everyone agreed it was an excellent performance .
We had some great exhibitions last year – apart from the excellent Art Exhibition that takes place every year – it was good to see so many photographs entered into the Picturing Debenham competition and hope everyone was able to see the very high standard of photography displayed at Debenham Leisure Centre. A lot of people also took the opportunity to look at and participate in the Roundabout Pre-School exhibition of work on light and shade.
Of special mention was the unique sound installation “ Half my Life Ago”. Created by Mike Challis with local people, these sound recordings of individual perspectives of life in Debenham could be heard through headphones as people walked around the green. The recordings are all on the Arts Festival website and are a wonderful record of life in our village.
The film “Tenacity on the Tasman” was a great success – probably because it featured a Suffolk hero and there were some local links with Debenham and Woodbridge.
The Urban Debenham session outside the Resource Centre was a new exciting event. You may have seen the graffiti art that was created by over 60 young people on the day. It is now being exhibited at the Youth Club. We have had lots of great feedback about this event, although some people were a bit worried that graffiti would appear all over Debenham, this has not happened and it was good to be able to get young people really involved this year.
As usual there were lots of music events. Well done to Twisted Piglet who won the Battle of the Bands, Robert Brown played to a very appreciative crowd at the Debenham Folk Club. You may have noticed musicians on the street on Saturday – all adding to the festival ambiance, and the Leisure Centre’s Music Day had a lovely atmosphere, drawing over 300 people.
The Debenham Arts Festival brings together lots of people in the community with different talents and ideas, and what we do changes every year as different people get involved. It is an exciting programme and we would welcome any contributions to this years festival.
If you would like to get involved, contact us through the website, or on Facebook or come along to the next meeting.
