Press Release
The Mayor’s Thames Festival 2009
Saturday 12th – Sunday 13th September 2009
London’s massive end of summer celebration
This year’s Thames Festival delivers a fantastic line-up of free outdoor events, music and dance, exhibitions
and art installations including: The Fire Garden created by French fire alchemists Compagnie Carabosse;
Feast on the Bridge, a celebratory harvest event with fabulous food, drink and dancing held on Southwark
Bridge; and a spectacular night procession and fireworks display on the river on the final night
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The Mayor’s Thames Festival, which takes place on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th September 2009, is a
spectacular free open-air celebration of London and its river. Firmly established as a highlight in London’s
cultural calendar, the Festival features an exciting programme of events and activities which take place right in
the heart of London, between Westminster Bridge and Tower Bridge and beyond.
This year’s Festival promises to be one of the most spectacular London events of the year with street arts,
pyrotechnics, illuminations, art installations, river events, street theatre, massed choirs, circus and music.
Spectacle
On the evenings of Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th September, French fire alchemists Compagnie Carabosse
will create a spectacular fire garden in front of Tate Modern with animated fire machines, garlands of
flamepots, boilers that belch fire and glorious structures laced with firepots.
Feast on the Bridge
Southwark Bridge hosts Feast on the Bridge, a celebratory harvest event with food, drink, entertainment and
hands on activity held on Saturday 12th September. Southwark Bridge will be closed to traffic and transformed
into a feasting environment with banqueting tables, artist-led installations and the chance to sample food from
some of the UK’s best sustainable food producers. There are also opportunities to get your hands dirty and
have a go at churning butter, smoking a kipper, milking a cow or foraging for food along the Thames.
In the six months beforehand, an education project, Moveable Feast, will work with artists, schools and
different communities to create 12 gardens and grow food in the city. Food from each garden will then be
brought to Feast on the Bridge, exhibited and eaten on the bridge.
-2Open air performance
Flood Tide, a unique open air musical performance generated by the movement of tidal water, will be
performed on Saturday 12th September. ‘Flood Tide’ is a live sonification of tidal flow. A sensor placed in the
Thames reads the river’s tidal movements which are converted into musical notation and played live by an
ensemble of up to 32 musicians. The piece will last 6 hours, going from low to high tide.
River Events
Highlights include: The Thames Pageant which sees a flotilla of working boats, both old and new, sail from
Tower Bridge to Westminster Bridge; a unique chance to see Thames Festival Classic, a collection of classic
wooden sailing boats, up close at St Katharine Docks, before watching them sail under Tower Bridge at dusk
on Saturday evening, spectacularly lit by lights and flares; and the Barge Pulling Race which will re-enact the
way watermen used to manoeuvre cargo barges on the Thames before the age of steam. Festival-goers can
also learn about London’s river history at a show-and-tell stall; join archaeological walks and make pots from
Thames clay that are fired in a bonfire on the Thames foreshore by Globe Theatre.
Music & Dance
Dress up and dance at the Festival’s famous Jive Stage and Al Fresco Ballroom, now in its fifth year, with
workshops, exhibition dances and a host of live talent. There’s also Riverside Jazz from the F-IRE Collective;
a New European music stage featuring future folk, Baltic beats and traditional gypsy sounds; and the amazing
Disco Shed – a mobile disco complete with light show and visuals, housed in an ordinary garden shed!
For Families
Children and families are promised a host of exciting interactive activities at the Blue Ribbon Village at
Potters Fields Park, the Festival’s environmental zone. Highlights include: Hoodwink Theatre’s production of
The Pleasure Garden, a 15 minute show featuring bees, blossom, scents, extravagant characters and elegant
comedy; an observational beehive housing over 2000 bees; and a flag installation by artist Shona Watt.
Creative workshops include making underwater seascapes at the Natural England marquee, and making
musical instruments from river rubbish with Thames21, followed by the chance to perform as an orchestra.
Festival Finale
On the evening of Sunday 13th September over 2,000 dancers, musicians and masqueraders come from
across the country with their amazing lanterns, illuminated costumes and fantastic structures to take part in the
Night Procession. This will be followed by the Festival’s spectacular fireworks finale which is fired from two
barges on the Thames between Waterloo and Blackfriars Bridges.
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For further information or images please visit www.thamesfestival.org or contact: Emma
Lawson, Thames Festival Press & PR on 07768 738 345 or email
emmalawson@globalnet.co.uk
For non press enquiries the festival office is on 020 7928 8998.
Notes to Editors
The Mayor’s Thames Festival is a free event, open to all, produced by the Thames Festival Trust, an
independent charitable trust.
The event is primarily funded by private sector partnerships: 60% is paid by sponsors (Barclaycard is
the principal sponsor); 22% by Arts Council England, the Mayor of London and other public bodies
and the remaining 18% comes from income generated on-site over the festival weekend.
Education and Outreach work – the Festival has four key ongoing education projects with schools
and community groups focussing on art/design, the environment, music education and food growing.
In 2008 the Festival worked with 306 schools from both inner and outer London.
Winner of two Visit London Awards – ‘Best Celebration of Cultural Diversity’ and ‘Cultural
Event of the Year’ – London’s tourism Oscars.
“The Thames Festival is a great event, a lively and magical celebration of London and its river” Boris
Johnson, Mayor of London
A “totally multicultural and all-embracing celebration of London… a spectacular and hugely enjoyable
event” Visit London