‘Meet The Neighbours’ at Holloway Arts Festival (1-8 June 2014)
This June will see venues across Holloway opening their doors for the annual Holloway Arts
Festival (1-8 June 2014). Its streets, parks and buildings will be filled with an exciting, week-long
programme featuring live music, dance, film, poetry, art exhibitions and interactive performance, along
with talks, workshops and an arts conference on ‘Making Things Happen’.
Now in its twelfth year, the theme of the festival for 2014 is ‘Meet the Neighbours’, kicking off with a
brand new outdoor event: Hornsey Street Festival featuring Live Art duo Hunt and
Darton. Performance artist Bobby Baker and Theatre Director Phelim McDermott join the festival to
offer their insights as keynote speakers at the Owning the Arts conference. Two exciting new
additions to the festival programme are: Holloway Ladies Circle, a series of informal conversations
between women who work in cultural fields, and Holloway Lates, a showcase for original music at
new Holloway venue, Filthy’s.
Programme in detail:
The inaugural Hornsey Street Festival looks set to be a street party with a twist. Live Art duo Hunt
and Darton are declaring it ‘Neighbours Day’ at their pop-up café, encouraging interactive dining with
activities including a ‘Not Great British Bake-Off’ competition. Experience the unexpected with a
series of site-specific performances called Stop! Look! Listen! encouraging unusual interactions on
the streets of Holloway, featuring performances from Stacy Makishi, Gillie Kleiman, Susannah
Hewlett, Morven Mulgrew and Lucy Hutson. Keeping with the theme, Silversmith Dance
Company will present a specially devised dance with doormats. Holloway Arts Festival’s reputation
for bringing great new music to the streets of Holloway continues with sets from Global Local bands
The Turbans and Sankoulekan. Holloway’s own carnival parade will fill the street with colour and
show off the carnival costume created in workshops hosted by Rowan Arts and Festive Road.
Mayton Street Festival returns with its signature eclectic mix of performers and activities. Festivalgoers can enjoy an interactive Tea Party hosted by performance artist Katy Baird + surprise
guests, a daytime set from The Wild Bunch DJs and music from eight-piece Irish band Meitheal
Cheoil and award-winning composer and violinist Clare Connors, known for her arrangements of the
techno band Kraftwerk. The ever-popular over-55s dance troupe Funky Disco Dancers choreographed by Simona Scotto – will be tearing up the street whilst the under-fives can get creative
at the Curious Creatures recycling workshop. A pop-up photo-booth will be on hand to document the
fun.
Kicking off the final day of the festival, Whittington Park Community Association returns to
produce Big Day Out in Whittington Park, an afternoon of fun activities with free workshops,
performances, a dog show and a variety of stalls.
Bobby Baker, Artist and Artistic Director of Daily Life Ltd and Phelim McDermott, Co-Founder of
Improbable theatre company and Devoted and Disgruntled Open Space Events, take the reins as
key-note speakers at the Owning the Arts conference. The day-long event is aimed at artists, arts
managers, producers, educators and community activists who want to share experiences and best
practice. Breakout session leaders include: Hunt & Darton, Creators of Interactive Performance
Installations; Lois Keidan, Co-Founder and Director, Live Art Development Agency; Sian Thomas,
Dramaturg and Director of Outdoor Performance; Russell Thompson, London Programme
Coordinator, Apples and Snakes; Natalie Wade, Director, Small Green Shoots music consultancy;
Shelagh Wright & John Kieffer (ThreeJohnsandShelagh).
Inspired by the theme of ‘Meet the Neighbours’ the first Holloway Ladies Circle brings together
performer and Electric Voice Theatre Artistic Director Frances M Lynch in conversation with author
and former Gulbenkian Foundation Arts Director Siân Ede. The Meet the Professionals series offers
the chance to connect with local arts professionals including Artistic Director of Az Theatre Jonathan
Chadwick and Aaron Wright, Programme Manager at Live Art Development Agency. Connecting
Conversations continues with two events during the week: psychoanalyst Valerie Sinason talks to
writer and producer Katharine Quarmby about ‘the perennial need for a scape goat’ discussed in her
book ‘Scapegoat: Why We Are Failing Disabled People’, while psychoanalytic therapist Smita Rajput
Kamble comes together with poet Daljit Nagra, short-listed for the T.S. Eliot Prize 2014, to discuss
how his work bridges the gaps between languages and creates new words and ways of expressing
the inner emotional world.
Reel Islington will be screening a special double film club for the festival. John Rodger’s ‘The
London Perambulator’, will be followed by a Q+A between the director and the subject of his film,
‘deep topographer’ Nick Papadimitriou. John Akomfrah’s documentary portrait ‘The Stuart Hall
Project’ will be followed by a discussion between Professor of Sociology Michael Rustin and
Jeremy Corbyn MP. Lucy Popescu’s Literary Night brings writers Martina Evans, Robert
Minhinnick and Helen Smith to the festival for readings and a discussion on the theme of
immigration. Children and families will also get a chance to meet their neighbours at an under-fives
picnic at Manor Gardens and an all-ages animal themed disco by DJ Jessica Fletcher at
Freightliners Farm.
Making sure Holloway stays loud and lively during the festival, Apples and Snakes present U Talk 2
Much, an evening of slam poetry, while Russell Thompson will introduce The Cabaret of Dead
Souls, a variety show hosted by Sophia Blackwell featuring Philip Jeays and Julian Fox. The
Singer-Songwriter Competition and Holloway Lates provide a chance to discover new music with
performances
from
Josephine
and
The
Artizans, a
ten-piece
Hip-Hopera
band
and Lyrix Organix who will present a collision of live music and spoken word inspired by the local
area.
Holloway Arts Festival is produced by Rowan Arts. Our 2014 programme is funded by Arts Council
England, Islington Council, student housing provider Unite and London music venue Filthy’s.
The full programme is available at www.hollowayartsfestival.co.uk.
- ends –
Notes to Editor
MEDIA CONTACT: Lilia Prier Tisdall, 0207 700 2062, lilia@therowanartsproject.com
WEBSITE: www.hollowayartsfestival.co.uk
PROGRAMME INFORMATION: details are available at www.hollowayartsfestival.co.uk
Holloway Arts Festival 2014 programme in brief:
31/5/14 WORKSHOP Carnival Costume Making Workshop 10am- 6pm FREE
1/6/14 STREET FESTIVAL Hornsey Street Festival 1-5pm FREE
1/6/14 POETRY U Talk 2 Much: GREEdS, Kemi Taiwo 6.30-8.30pm £6/£3
2/6/14 TALK Meet the Professionals: GéNIA 12.30-1.30pm/ Aaron Wright 1.30-2.30pm £4/£2
2/6/14 EXHIBITIONS Garry Kennard Holloway Icons opening 5.30-7pm FREE
2/6/14 EXHIBITIONS Group exhibition Postcards from Holloway opening 6-7.30pm FREE
2/6/14 MUSIC Singer-Songwriter Competition 8-10pm FREE
3/6/14 TALK Holloway Ladies Circle: Sian Ede + Frances Lynch 1pm-2pm FREE
3/6/14 TALK Universettee with Fred London 6-7pm FREE
3/6/14 READINGS Literary Night: Chris Chalmers, Martina Evans, Melissa Harrison, Robert
Minhinnick, Helen Smith. 7-9pm FREE
3/6/14 MUSIC Holloway Lates: Josephine and the Artizans, Kimberley Newell 10pm-late FREE
4/6/14 WALK History and Wildlife of the Parkland Walk 10-12pm FREE
4/6/14 TALK Meet the Professionals Johnathan Chadwick 12.30-1.30pm/ Chris Coates 1.30-2.30pm
£4/£2
4/6/14 TALK Connecting Conversations with Katharine Quarmby 5-6.30pm £6/£3
4/6/14 VARIETY SHOW The Cabaret of Dead Souls: Philip Jeays, Stacy Makishi, Julian Fox, Sophia
Blackwell 8pm – 10pm £6/£3
5/6/14 CONFERENCE Owning the Arts with keynote speakers Bobby Baker and Phelim McDermott
9-5pm £40/£20
6/6/14 KIDS Under 5’s picnic 11am-1pm FREE
6/6/14 MUSIC DJ Jessica Fletcher on the Farm 4.15-5.30pm FREE
6/6/14 FILM Reel Islington Film Club: ‘The London Perambulator’ 6-7.30pm / ‘The Stuart Hall Project’
7.45-10pm £5/£2.50
7/6/14 STREET FESTIVAL Mayton Street Festival 1-5pm FREE
7/6/14 TALK Connecting Conversations with Daljit Nagra 6-7.30pm £10/£8
7/6/14 MUSIC Holloway Lates: Lyrix Organix, Paul Cree, BASS6, Natty Speaks 10pm-late FREE
8/6/14 PARK FESTIVAL Big Day Out in Whittington Park 1-5pm FREE
8/6/14 MUSIC Closing Party 7.30-9pm FREE
HOLLOWAY ARTS FESTIVAL 2014 runs from Sunday 1 June to Sunday 8 June and brings a range
of high quality arts activities and performances to the Holloway area including theatre, dance,
comedy, music, literature and arts and crafts. The festival was established in 2003. It is produced by
Rowan Arts working in partnership with a range of local organisations and supporters.
www.hollowayartsfestival.co.uk
ROWAN ARTS is a charity based in Islington, established in 2003. Rowan Arts uses culture as a
catalyst to create more connected communities. Ongoing projects include Connecting Conversations,
a series of talks that aims to explore artistic creativity and practice by bringing together artists, authors
or performers with psychoanalysts to discuss their work, and Islington Exhibits, an initiative to unlock
hidden venues in Islington and give artists and craft persons a space to display their work.
www.rowanarts.net
CONNECTING CONVERSATIONS is an ongoing series of events bringing together psychoanalysts
and practitioners from different fields to explore artistic creativity and practice.
www.connectingconversations.org
OWNING THE ARTS is a one-day conference aimed at artists, arts managers, producers, educators
and community activists who want to share experiences and best practice. The first event was held in
2013 and addressed the question ‘Are the Arts for Everyone?’
www.rowanarts.net/project-view/owning-the-arts/