last post

today is my last day as Director of the Lichfield Festival, and I wanted to put up a brief last post to thank you all for reading this over the last seventeen months, for engaging with it every now and then, and for supporting the Lichfield Festival from where ever you are. From next week I will be pursuing a Clore Fellowship fulltime and from 16 November my successor Fiona Stuart will be in post. Please do keep an eye out on this blog, as it is bound to continue in some way...

travelling picture show ends its journey

Just heard from the good folk at 7inch Cinema, who screened film at last July's Festival, that the animation workshops that started here on our final day and have continued throughout the West Midlands over recent months, have finally been completed and the 'chain-film' The Magic Box will be premiered at a Gala Finale of the Travelling Picture Show will take place on Sunday 25 October at 6pm at The Electric in Birmingham. The evening will also include pianist Paul Shallcross accompanying two comedy classics: Buster Keaton wrestles with a flatpack house in One Week (1920) and Laurel and Hardy are persistent salesmen in Big Business (1929).

literature day after

still picking through the weekend to work out just how successful an event it was, but with a string of happy authors, pretty healthy book sales (the David Aaronovitch book sold out), and (so far) really nice and encouraging words from the visit authors, its just the money that we have yet to measure sucess by. I realise that our audience figures are helped by an event for children that was attended by over 400 people, but even an initial tally suggest that attendances were up by over 730 (which is like 125% increase on last year - nice). While thanks go to all the professional authors who visited this year, I would also like to name and thank all of the local authors and poets who came to speak at our inaugural Open Mic event - Elizabeth Leaper, Janet Jenkins, Sally Hayter, Paul Higgs, Mostyn Harris, Jan Green, Michael Pearson, Anthony Webster, Sue Maxwell, Matthew Powell, Philip Hall, Wendy Wilson, and Gary Longdon.

literature day two

it is with a certain shock that I find myself at the start of day two of this year's lichfield literature without having posted about it for nearly three weeks. Better late than never I suppose. It feels a little like its crept up on us all, and our slightly unexpected full house for our first event with Ian Stewart last night (freshly 'retired' and on the day his book was officially released) excitedly reminded us of what it is we actually do. It is often too easy to get caught up with planning and budgets, that we forget that it is about allowing, in this case, authors (artists) to engage directly with their readers (audiences), and vice versa.
This morning then, with a triple espresso drunk from my favourite Very Hungry Caterpiller mug in recognition of today's four sold out puppet shows marking the book's 40th birthday, and with a long day stretching ahead of the team culminating in (another) sold out event with Kate Adie, I wanted to briefly draw attention to the gentle Lichfield thread. Our second event last night was David Charles Manners speaking about and reading from his latest book. David went to school in Lichfield, and spoke with eloquence and a wonderfully poetic turn of phrase about his years here and about the extraordinary work that he has been doing in the Bengal Himalaya for the last sixteen years. Tomorrow at noon we welcome ten local poets and authors who will be reading their unpublished work at our Open Mic event (this is free - come along). Then Frances Wilson, also from Lichfield, will be finally speaking about her Dorothy Wordsworth book after having to pull out last year due to illness. Tomorrow evening ends with David Nokes discussing Lichfield's Samuel Johnson. Finally, on Sunday, we welcome back Matthew Yeo, another born and bred Lichfeldian, who will be talking about the the history of the bookshop (!). Of course there are other wee connections throughout the weekend, but it is great to have so many authors from here returning to speak here.

new festival director

it has just been announced publicly, but at the start of November Fiona Stuart will become only the fifth Lichfield Festival Director in 28 years. To quote from the press release Fiona is

currently director of the Chorlton Arts Festival and also community outreach manager for the Royal Northern College of Music.

She replaces Richard Hawley, director since 2004, who has accepted a fellowship with the Clore Leadership Programme, and leaves Lichfield at the end of October.

Fiona said: “I am delighted to have been offered the post of Festival Director of The Lichfield Festival. The Festival has helped to place Lichfield on the map as a centre for wide-ranging and innovative arts and has an important place in enriching the life of the local community. I am excited about getting to know this community and also about working within such a strong, established team.

“With a successful 28-year history behind it, the Festival has established itself as a forward-thinking and groundbreaking arts organisation, and I look forward to building on the success of Richard Hawley and his predecessors in bringing together the best in local, national and international arts.”

As director of the Chorlton Arts Festival, Fiona was responsible for planning, promoting and delivering one of the largest festivals in Greater Manchester, and over three years was able to double the size of the festival and treble its audience figures.

At the Royal Northern College of Music she has been part of a team devising and delivering community events, providing participation opportunities for over 2,500 young people. As part of this programme, Fiona produced West Side Story, the largest project ever undertaken by the outreach department and designed to give talented children from deprived areas the opportunity to work alongside professional directors, choreographers, musicians and theatre crew.

Nick Sedgwick, Chairman of the Lichfield Festival’s board of directors, said: “We selected Fiona from a strong field of candidates from around the country for her special combination of qualities and experience. Her work at Chorlton and at the RNCM involves the whole community and she will quickly bring those skills to bear in Lichfield. “