Post Festival Ramblings

Corsham Festival 2010 came to an end two weeks ago, and that has given me the opportunity to reflect on this extraordinary annual event, the eleventh since Ian Martin and myself took over the festival and gave it the essential character it has today: 8 days of live performance, participatory events and visual arts with a strong contemporary focus over eight days at the end of June.

What we always aimed to do was bring something unique to Corsham which would not normally happen in a small town like this; to help put Corsham firmly on the cultural map and inspire people with something fantastic and amazing. At the same time the festival must also be Corsham’s Festival and have real relevance to the town, its history and identity.

So I think this year’s festival in particular was stronger with ever on so many levels. To give a few examples:

• Top quality international work including Flamenco Jazz from Spain, world cinema with Seraphine and Departures, Japanese puppetry form A Thousand Cranes, The exotic sounds of the middle East from Daphna & The Voyagers and Mamoru Iriguchi’s bizarre Pregnant

• Incredible fusions between different cultures and artforms such as one when digital filmmaking meets Ancient traditions from West Africa in Ancient Futures or when the specially commissioned score brings together musicians from India and the west in Shiraz

• Offering artists the opportunity to present new work for the first time whether it is the world premiere of a new string quartet as we had wit the ‘Hillman Quartet’ or some of the latest fascinating creations from our artist in residence, ceramicist Claire Baker with a Bit on the Side…

• Involving the wider community through our second Corsham Fringe Festival which was bigger, better, wider and involves more and more local groups, individuals, businesses – even the MoD in the High Street and in venues across the town. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities for the future development of the Fringe.

All this happened simply because an amazing mix of people came together to make it ‘work’: staff from The Pound Arts Trust, technicians, volunteers, funders, press, artists and audiences, whose collective enthusiasm bring everything together to enable those extraordinary shared cultural experiences which make us human and our lives worthwhile. That to me is what a festival is all about and what takes it beyond the level of simple ‘entertainment’ and to a higher plane of inspiration and vision.