Programme for first Creative Scilly festival revealed
The programme for the inaugural Creative Scilly festival has been revealed.
The event is a "13-day celebration of music, theatre, spoken word, visual arts and island life, including pop up events and intrigues to delight and inspire".
The festival, organised by the Islands’ Partnership’s Creative Islands team with support from Arts Council England, will include an eclectic mix of events, workshops, courses, demonstrations, talks and performances featuring artists and creatives on the islands and beyond.
Highlights include crime writer Kate Rhodes sharing her new work set on Scilly, folk music from The Story Republic and Harbottle & Jonas, a radio play telling a scandalous story set on Rosevear and stand-up comedy from the Kernow King. There will also be performances at the Five Islands Academy and a creative writing walk with celebrated Cornwall based writer Wyl Menmuir.
Creative Scilly will see the launch of “Walking stories” - five new audio books which have been specially commissioned to be best enjoyed on each of the inhabited islands, as well as the return of the popular Paint the Day competition and a range of arts and crafts workshops led by local and mainland artists.
In addition to the Creative Scilly Festival, Creative Islands is hosting a three-day symposium from May 8th - 10th in collaboration with Isles of Scilly library and the Isles of Scilly Museum. Funded by Cultivator Cornwall and Plymouth University, the cultural symposium will see around 30 delegates from various island communities and arts organisations around the UK arrive on the Isles of Scilly for a series of lectures and seminars, as well as trips to the some of the other islands to visit studio workshops.
David Jackson, Executive Director for Visit Isles of Scilly, said: “We’re delighted that Creative Islands has put together such a fantastic programme for our first Creative Scilly festival and are extremely grateful for the support that Arts Council England and our local sponsors have afforded us.
"We are equally delighted to be hosting the cultural symposium as a fringe event, which not only provides an opportunity for us to showcase the wealth of creativity and artistic talent on the islands, but also to share learning and exchange ideas with peers and professional colleagues from further afield.
“May is a fantastic time to escape to Scilly, with longer, warmer days and colour flooding into the landscape and we look forward to welcoming visitors, old and new, so that they can soak up and celebrate with us the fantastic artistic and creative talent that fills our islands.”
The full programme can be viewed at www.visitislesofscilly.com/creativescilly and tickets are on sale now.