Celebrating the arts across the county.
Melbourne Festival
31 August-18 October
Melbourne Festival is always full of surprises and it is celebrating in style this year. The 15th Art & Architecture Trail will be on 14th and 15th September, entry for the weekend is £5, under 18s free. There will be over 140 professional artists and makers exhibiting in 70 private houses, public buildings and businesses in the historic heart of the trail. This year sees the return of sculptor Duncan Thurlby and Hannah Lobley with her paperworks. Faces new to the trail include Patrick Twiss Prentice with his stunning oils and printmaker Bernie Rutter. Expect a party atmosphere with music, food and fun activities around every corner - a Rumble in the Jungle theme can be seen in the artwork created by over 200 local children at workshops with artist Anna Roebuck.
The Festival theme for 2019 is 'Flower Power' and throughout the Summer Melbourne's knitters and sewers have taken part in sit-and-stitch 'Crafternoons' at Pool Cottage, Melbourne's Care Home, where they've made flowers - and eaten cakes! The Performing Arts are also an important part of Melbourne Festival. The Festival Fringe programme starts on 31st August and continues into October, with an eclectic mix of music, theatre and comedy. The Festival's popular Comedy Club is on 13th September with headliner Stephen Grant supported by Diane Spencer and Carl Jones with compère Dave Bryon.
This year's programme is also aimed at encouraging young people to perform and opens with Emerging Band Night on 31st August featuring young musicians. Then on 21st September the Hot House Jam Band and Screaming Kicks Big Band will perform an evening of inspirational jazz. The Festival Fringe closes on 18th October when The Friends of Melbourne Parish Church and Melbourne Festival welcome The Dime Notes.
For full details contact info@melbournefestival.co.uk, call 07765 819428 or visit melbournefestival.co.uk
Wirksworth Festival
6-15 September
Wirksworth's annual festival is honouring its 25th anniversary and will once again present a vibrant celebration of the arts with contemporary and traditional visual art, performance, music, street theatre, workshops and community celebrations. The popular weekend Festival Trail is on 7th and 8th September (tickets £7, under 18s free) featuring the work of more than 150 artists in historic homes, gardens, courtyards, shop windows and churches. The Designer Makers Showcase is housed in two large venues bringing together contemporary jewellery, ceramics, textiles, glassware and other crafts. Residents of Haarlem Artspace will be opening up their studios and there will also be a Curated Exhibition of work by renowned established artists alongside that of emerging artists. All this plus street entertainment - live music with the 'Gig on the Roof' on 8th - workshops, family activities, the Clypping of the church and a farmers' market, as well as lots of pubs, cafés, grocers, bakeries and delis to visit.
The Festival is also hosting a series of talks and workshops by local artists and makers, and on 15th-16th a Three Minute Film Festival will showcase short films at various locations in the town.
The rest of the Festival comprises an inspiring programme of performances and fringe events that headlines Roger McGough with Little Machine and features diverse acts such as Jumoke Fashola, Mark Gwynne Jones, jazz band SoulDeep, Celtic folk rock band Ranagri, Alex Blood and Rebel Sound, and Kyla Brox - Manchester's answer to Aretha Franklin. Sleeping Trees Theatre starts things off with its blend of fast-paced comedy in 'Silly Funny Boys' and the big Community Celebration on 15th draws things to a close at the same time recognizing Wirksworth's incredible community.
For full details please see wirksworthfestival.co.uk; tickets at 01629 824393.
New Mills Festival
13-29 September
New Mills Festival promises 'two magical weeks of walks, talks and fairs, food, music and art, lanterns, processions and parties', with artists from across the UK displaying their work in windows across the town.
The Art Trail weekend itself is 27th to 29th, when work by over 150 artists will be on show, with workshops and performances along the way. The poetry trail is returning for the second year running with an eclectic selection of poems appearing at various locations across the town.
Events kick off on 13th with a Woodland Wellbeing Day at Beardwood Farm, and the fantastic Fabaret featuring music, burlesque, acrobatics and more at Torr Vale Mill. The 14th has outdoor theatre in High Lea Park, the Terri Shaltiel Band and Miss Mac and Friends. Other events include Jumble Trail, Bubblefest with Added Brass, a mystery history walk, Spanish wine and tapas, apple day, talks, antiques fair, film, quiz, choir festival and morris dancing. On 28th there's the evening Lantern Procession Street Party: follow a magical route through the Torrs and over the famous Millennium Walkway.
For full details: www.newmillsfestival.com 07753842861
Chatsworth Arts Festival
20-22 September
The Chatsworth Arts Festival returns this month with talks, performance, music and film from an eclectic line-up of international artists, curators, collectors and writers working in design, music, theatre, sculpture, painting, dance, textiles, ceramics, books and gardens. More than 25 artists will fill out the bill for the three-day festival with headline acts that include: musician, writer and poet Jarvis Cocker, a figurehead for Britpop as frontman of Pulp and a revered cultural figure; one of the UK's leading contemporary artists Mark Wallinger who represented Britain at the Venice Biennale in 2001 and won the Turner Prize in 2007; gardener, cook and TV presenter Sarah Raven; plus Gucci 'Artist in Residence' Rachel Feinstein, whose stay at Chatsworth has inspired her recently unveiled, baroque-styled sculpture 'Britannia', found in the estate's garden. Artist Ben Long will also be giving a talk in the shadow of his 8-metre high Dog Scaffolding Sculpture, a feature of this year's key exhibition, 'The Dog - A Celebration at Chatsworth'.
Supported by Sotheby's, Laurent-Perrier and Golden Bottle Trust, the festival is the only UK event of its kind, featuring public talks about art, workshops and performances, by artists, makers and designers.
For further details visit www.chatsworth.org
Derby Festé
27-28 September
Family-friendly Festé features performers from across Europe. It starts at 4.30pm on the Friday with a high-energy aerial performance of 'Splash' by integrated circus company Extraordinary Bodies on Cathedral Green. At 5.15pm everyone will be invited into Derby Cathedral to see 'Museum of the Moon' - a 7-metre diameter touring installation by artist Luke Jerram that fuses lunar imagery, moonlight and surround sound. Around 200 young people from local Special Educational Needs (SEND) schools will then create a choreographed 'Human Link' between the Cathedral and the banks of the Derwent. To conclude the evening Dutch company Close-Act will parade their giant futuristic silver creatures through the St Peters and Cathedral Quarters to the Market Place for 9pm.
During Saturday, take to the streets for free street entertainment with acrobatics, dance, music, innovative street theatre and comedy. Then on Saturday night Close-Act will perform 'Malaya' at Bass' Recreation Ground - a fantastical journey of fire, light and sound. The other ticketed performance is by award-winning Catalan circus company Los Galindos who will give four perfomances each day of UduL, a one-hour show, in a small yurt on Cathedral Green.
Tickets for 'Malaya' and 'UduL' from Déda Box Office 01332 370911; www.deda.uk.com.
Details at derbyfeste.com
