Festival of light to become a regular event for Durham as Lumiere is hailed as spectacular success

Producers of extraordinary live events Artichoke announced today, Wednesday 18th November, that Lumiere would become a biennial event in Durham, after at the spectacular success of the festival which took place over four consecutive nights, 12th – 15th November.

At least 75,000 people thronged the city’s streets during the festival, filling the city’s restaurants and cafes, trains and buses, and every available parking space. Staged as part of Durham’s bid for UK capital of culture in 2013, Lumiere is the largest festival of its kind to take place in the UK, and included no less than seven new commissions and more than 50 UK and international artists. Lumiere is part of the 2009 Sky Arts Artichoke Season.

Festival highlights included the brand new commission Crown of Light, a collaboration between projection artist, Ross Ashton, composer and arranger Robert Ziegler, and sound designer John Del’Nero, whose remarkable son et lumiere projected onto the Cathedral exterior enthralled crowds. Inside the Cathedral, United Visual Artists had recreated Chorus, 8 swinging pendulums of light suspended in the Cathedral nave: thousands filed underneath this and then into the Cathedral cloisters to experience Daan Roosegaarde’s Dune, an installation of illuminated flowers turning this way and that in response to movement and sound. Durham’s dramatic architecture and landscapes were transformed by artworks and installations by Ron Haselden, FIELD, Speirs and Major Associates, Simon Corder, Creatmosphere, Mia Kosminksy, Bureau of Silly Ideas, Filament, Air Vag, Tae Gon Kim, and Tim Etchells, while French theatrical companies, Quidams and La Salamandre led magical processions through the nooks and crannies of the city’s medieval streets.

Simon Henig, Leader of Durham County Council said: “Lumiere has been a spectacular success for Durham. We are delighted that Artichoke agreed to work with us and we are now talking to them about a biennial festival of light, one that would continue to forge links with artists and communities throughout the county, up to and including 2013″.

Helen Marriage, Artistic Director of Artichoke said: “We were really delighted to have been invited to produce Lumiere in Durham. When our local co-producer David Bilton of dgb events came up with the idea of a collaboration, we were immediately inspired both by the very strong partnerships that exist within this extraordinary city as well as its wonderful architecture and landscapes.”

Durham County Council in partnership with the University and the Cathedral is rightly proud of its historic cultural heritage with the world renowned World Heritage Site. All Durham’s institutions are backing the city’s bid to win the newly designated UK City of Culture for 2013.

Artichoke’s involvement, together with principal sponsor Sky Arts, meant that an ambitious programme designed to animate every nook and cranny of the city was made possible. Sky Arts co-commissioned the Sky Walkers – living artworks that took to the streets to distribute information to passers-by. The channel will also create a series of short films following ten of the Lumiere artists, exploring the inspiration behind their installations and the technical challenges involved, as well as a 30-minute documentary of the whole event to air in December.

“We were delighted to see how Lumiere came to life on the streets of Durham,” comments John Cassy, director of Sky Arts. “We’d been following the artistic process of many of the artists involved, and so to see their work realised, and to see the thousands of people that were engaged and inspired by it, was truly exciting.”

Lumiere forms part of North East England’s world-class programme of festivals and events, developed by culture10. Supported by Durham County Council, Lumiere is also a measure of Durham’s scale of commitment to developing the city’s cultural offering for its communities and visitors, underlined by the recent announcement of its intention to bid to be the first UK City of Culture in 2013.

Lumiere will air on Sky Arts 1 HD and Sky Arts1 on Sunday 8th December at 7pm and 15th December at 6.30pm.

Editor’s Notes

Artichoke
Artichoke is a registered charity, funded by Arts Council England. Artichoke works with the best creative minds to produce extraordinary shows that live in the memory forever, and believes that the arts should take place not only behind the closed doors of theatres and art galleries, but also in public places. In May 2006, Artichoke presented the biggest piece of free theatre ever seen in the UK, Royal de Luxe’s The Sultan’s Elephant. The story of the little girl giant and the 30 foot tall elephant won the hearts of the nation and the press claimed a million people filled the streets of London to watch. In 2008 the company joined London and New York by means of Paul St George’s Telectroscope, and people gathered day and night on both sides of the Atlantic to reunite lost family members or simply to catch a glimpse of life across the pond. Also in 2008 the company mounted the flagship event for Liverpool’s Capital of Culture celebrations, with La Machine’s 50-foot high mechanical spider and her adventures in the city. And in 2009 the company has produced Antony Gormley’s 100-day long invasion of the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square in London, One & Other.

Sky Arts has generously committed to working with Artichoke for the next two years. Their support will enable Artichoke to develop new opportunities for artists to create work across the country and new ways to delight, surprise and challenge audiences everywhere.

About Durham Festivals and Events
In 2008, Durham hosted the award-winning Enlightenment, its first-ever international light based arts festival featuring outdoor arts installations by Asian and British artists and inspired by the county’s religious and industrial heritage. 30,000 visitors saw Durham’s bridges, river, landmarks and shop fronts transformed into a stunning exhibition of light based art. BRASS: Durham International Festival is one of the world’s fastest growing festivals celebrating global brass music. Over the past three years, Durham has welcomed musicians from five continents and more than 20 countries and annual audiences in excess of 80,000 for two weeks of free street performances and big band concerts in July. At the same time, work is underway to revive the lost tradition of Mystery plays in Durham. These biblical stories are being reinterpreted through contemporary media by local Durham artists under the direction of the city’s Gala Theatre. Durham’s Book Festival attracts leading literary figures each year to celebrate the power of the written word. In 2008, the festival was headlined by best-selling authors, Kate Atkinson (Whitbread prize-winner – Behind the Scenes at the Museum) and Bernard Cornwell (Sharpe series), TV comedian, author and activist Mark Thomas, and veteran BBC War correspondent Kate Adie.

Sky Arts: On Screen, Online, Onstage, and On the Streets
Lumiere is produced as part of a major two-year sponsorship with Artichoke, the ground-breaking company that brings art to the streets of towns and cities across the UK. Sky Arts is one of the largest corporate sponsors of the arts in the UK. With four arts channels in over 9 million customer homes across the UK and Ireland, Sky Arts has doubled output to 36 hours every day of the week on Sky Arts 1 and Sky Arts 2, with Sky Arts 1 HD and Sky Arts 2 HD offering the best programmes in glorious high definition Sky supports the arts and make them accessible off as well as on screen, to the broadest possible audience. Recent programme highlights include The Book Show – the UK’s only television programme dedicated to books, hosted by Mariella Frostrup; Songbook, a series on some of the greatest songwriters of the day; and Sky Arts Theatre Live! which saw Sky Arts return live theatre to television for the first time in twenty years.

Partners
Lumiere is produced by Artichoke in partnership with Sky Arts and with the support of Arts Council England. It is part of the 2009 Sky Arts Artichoke season and forms part of North East England’s world-class programme of festivals and events developed by culture10. The event is generously supported by Durham County Council and culture10, and a range of other sponsors and supporters including the European Union, Lumalive, JCB, Durham University and Durham Cathedral. Artichoke was invited to produce a large-scale event in Durham at the suggestion of Newcastle-based producer DGB Events.

About the City of Culture 2013 Bid
Durham’s culture bid is led by Durham County Council, in partnership with County Durham Partnership, Visit County Durham and Durham City Vision. The bid will centre around the following strands: ‘Cultural City – Cultural County’: a series of activities reconnecting the communities of the county with its capital city and vice-versa, reenergising the City as the economic, social and creative heart of the county. ‘Creative Durham’: a series of activities designed to enhance the county’s cultural life, encouraging community participation in cultural activities and promote Durham as an area where creative people can live and work. ‘Festival Durham’: an ambitious programme of events and festivals which will take Durham into the next decade, cementing its position as a true cultural destination. The new UK City of Culture competition was proposed to enable towns and cities to access the type of culture-led benefits that Liverpool achieved as European Capital of Culture in 2008. Evidence of the impact to Liverpool in 2008 can be accessed at www.impact08.net . Durham will be the first predominantly rural area to bid to take advantage of the benefits culture-led regeneration brings. Funding for the proposed bid comes from Performance Award Grant money awarded to local authorities who perform well.

About culture10
Lumiere forms part of North East England’s world-class programme of festivals and events in 2009, managed by culture10. culture10 is an annual curated programme of exceptional cultural events and festivals across NewcastleGateshead and North East England. Established in 2004, it is managed by the culture10 team, funded by Newcastle City Council, Gateshead Council, One North East, Northern Rock Foundation and Arts Council England, North East, working in partnership with NewcastleGateshead Initiative. For further details see www.NewcastleGateshead.com

Contacts
For further information / Use of pictures / Interviews
Idea Generation: +44(0)20 7749 6850
Ellen Harrison: ellen@ideageneration.co.uk
Emily Airton: emily@ideageneration.co.uk
Artichoke website
Lumiere website
Durham City of Culture website

In a world first KMA create a stunning large-scale game of lights across the North East from 29th October to 1st November 2009 (17.30 – late).

Gateshead, Sunderland and Middlesbrough to host ground breaking interactive game from digital pioneers KMA.

As part of the Bupa Great North Run Cultural programme, digital pioneers KMA have been commissioned to create a world first: a huge, participatory, high-tech athletics tournament. Taking place simultaneously in three North East locations; Gateshead, Sunderland and Middlesbrough each area will compete against the other across four nights.

Projected light and thermal-imaging technology are used to create jaw-dropping interactive playing arenas in which human movement triggers spectacular light effects. The physical movements of players determine the outcome of the games, which will run on ten-minute cycles. Participants develop their game-playing skills as they progress through a number of levels to help their area to victory or to simply have fun.

Audiences in each of the three locations can take part in the games, which are played on ‘courts’ created by projected light; each court comprising a central playing area and two zones representing the other two locations. Balls of light appear from the centre of each court – these projected images can be moved by players physically ‘touching’ them. The aim of the first game is for each location to gain points by moving as many balls as possible to the other locations. Games last 90 seconds and 5 games make a series – through which the games increase in complexity as players become more familiar with the rules. The town or city with the most points at the end wins.

KMA’s mission is to apply leading digital innovation to large-scale live environments in order to expand the audiences’ experience of the work beyond the physical environment in which it is presented. Great Street Games will light up iconic locations across the North East but the aim of the work is to illuminate and animate the people of the region not the buildings.

Beth Bate, Cultural Programme Manager commented; “The Cultural Programme is all about getting people inspired and involved and Great Street Games does just that. This is a world first that takes art and sport to the streets. We’re also encouraging a bit of friendly rivalry across the North East. Just like the Bupa Great North Run, it’s active, it’s outdoors and it’s spectacular but you don’t have to be an experienced runner to take part – but the more you play, the better you’ll get!”

Great Street Games will take place in Baltic Square, Gateshead, Centre Square, Middlesbrough and The Old Fire Station, Sunderland.

Visit www.greatstreetgames.org.uk for updates and more information

The Bupa Great North Run Cultural Programme:

The Bupa Great North Run Cultural Programme is an annual series of artistic commissions, across artforms which respond to the Bupa Great North Run and celebrate sport and art. The commissions offer new perspectives and insights into the people that take part in the event, the journeys people undergo, the geography and landscape of the famous route, and the spirit of the event.

Established in 2005 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Run, the Cultural Programme has developed an impressive track-record exploring the unique partnership between art and sport. Previous visual art commissions include film, music, painting, drawing, photography, writing and mass participation projects, from artists including Jane and Louise Wilson, Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, Michael Nyman, Graham Dolphin, Claire Morgan, and writers including David Almond and Bill Bryson amongst others.

Contacts:
For further information / Use of pictures / Interviews
Idea Generation: +44(0)20 7749 6850
Ellen Harrison: ellen@ideageneration.co.uk
Emily Airton: emily@ideageneration.co.uk
Great Street games website

Durham bids to be UK City of Culture 2013 – The North East’s best kept cultural secret.
Embargoed until 10th September.

“For passion, creativity, an array of peerless assets and attractions and a palatable sense of community, Durham really is the perfect place.” Bill Bryson

A UNESCO World Heritage Site; home to stunning ancient architecture in the form of its Cathedral and University; host to renowned art events and festivals including an international literary festival, a two-week brass music gathering and a cutting edge festival of light, owner of the largest collection of decorative art outside of London and location to one of the most popular visitor attractions in the UK, tomorrow Durham will take part in a nationwide seminar to continue its bid to be UK City of Culture in 2013.

Durham’s culture is rooted in spirituality, knowledge and sense of place and its bid centres on three strands; Creative Durham a series of activities designed to grow the county’s cultural life, encourage community participation in cultural activities and promote Durham as an area where creative individuals can live and work; Festival Durham, an ambitious series of events and festivals which will take Durham into the next decade, cementing its position as a true cultural destination and Cultural City, a series of activities which seek to reconnect the communities of the county with their capital, and vice-versa, re-energising the city as the economic, social and creative heart of the county.

Strong Support for the bid:

An array of cultural personalities with connections to Durham are backing the bid. Among them is Bill Bryson: “My long standing love affair with Durham is well known as I have, without hesitation, lavished praise on its architecture, heritage, gardens, river. The more time I spend in the company of the people of Durham, the more I have come to realise that there really must be something in the water here.”

Paul Gudgin, former director of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is also supporting the bid, giving guidance as a creative consultant. He helped transform the Edinburgh Fringe into one of the world’s best breeding grounds for comic, music and theatrical talent. Gudgin first became involved with Durham when he advised on the development of Brass: Durham International Festival.

“Glasgow and Liverpool represented attempts to revitalise large, post-industrial cities through culture. We have the opportunity to show that awarding UK City of Culture to Durham will represent a real contrast to the two European versions hosted to date. Durham is a romantic and striking city with compactness, historic beauty and opportunities to stage outstanding festivals and events. It is the perfect canvas upon which the city and county of Durham can make a major contribution to the nation’s cultural life,” said Gudgin.

Local support for the bid is also strong with over 4,000 people publicly pledging their support in just over a month. People of Durham have always known how wonderful their city and county is and they want to show this to the rest of the country and the world. Residents were offered the chance to back the bid when officials from Durham’s culture bid officially unveiled the logo and branding to be used. Exhibited in a community art gallery in Durham’s city centre the show pulled in enthusiastic crowds who pledged their support by signing their names on the walls of the gallery. Empty Shop will now go on tour around the region throughout autumn so as many people from the area can show their support.

An appetite for culture:

Durham already offers some of the most exciting cultural events and attractions in the UK The bid for City of Culture 2013 will only add to the wealth of events and programmes:

• Durham’s Cathedral is one of two UNESCO world heritage listed Cathedrals in the UK and is considered to be one of the best examples of Gothic architecture in the world. From early history onwards the city and county has always attracted the brightest creative minds and is the cultural heart of the city and the county.

• Producers of extraordinary live events Artichoke, renowned for La Machine, the Sultan’s Elephant and Antony Gormley’s Fourth Plinth commission One & Other will produce an ambitious and spectacular festival of light, Lumiere, in the city, building on last year’s Enlightenment Festival which attracted 30,000 visitors.

• The Durham Book Festival is one of the cultural highlights of the year, playing host to authors from around the world. This year’s festival sees books coming to life with author events happening in site specific locations. Victorian train detective writer Andrew Martin will hold an event at a restored Victorian train station in the village of Stanhope and the North’s Biggest Book Swap will take place right in the heart of Durham’s city centre.

• BRASS: Durham International Festival is an annual two-week festival of world brass music drawing artists from across the globe and audiences of over 80,000 each year.

• The award-winning Beamish Museum celebrating life in the North East in the 19th and 20th centuries and Locomotion: National Railway Museum telling the story of County Durham as the “cradle of the railways” are among the most popular attractions in the North East.

• The Bowes Museum a French style chateau that houses one of the largest collections of Decorative Art outside of London, built by 18th century art collector John Bowes for his wife.

• The Gala Theatre, Durham’s leading arts venue that produces new work, nurtures home grown writers, as well as attracting national productions and companies. The Arts Council England estimates that the Gala Theatre contributes £6.5m per annum to the local economy.

• Durham’s excellent sporting offering also strengthens its bid with the Durham Regatta, dubbed the “Henley of the North” the second oldest rowing regatta in England draws crews and major crowds for two days every June. Durham County Cricket Club has grown from gaining first class status in 1991 to winning last year’s English County Championship, and will host The Ashes in 2013 acting as an international test cricket venue until 2016.

The benefits:

Aiming to inspire people across County Durham and transform the economic prospects of this rural region, Durham’s bid aims to encourage people and communities to aspire and be inspired. By re-energising culture it seeks to reverse the trend which places Durham low on the league table of English counties for people visiting libraries and museums and attending cultural events.

The economic and social benefits to Durham are clear, winning the bid to be UK City of Culture would mean developing a creative place for people to work and live. As well as the pleasure of simply enjoying culture and encouraging residents of the county and the city alike to express themselves and their communities through culture, cultural regeneration has shown to improve an area’s economy, its residents’ health and wellbeing, the level of education offered and general quality of life.

Culture, tourism, sport and recreation businesses and creative industries employ nearly 10% of the region’s workforce, and contribute over £1bn per year to the regional economy. However, if the region is to emerge from the economic downturn in a stronger, more competitive position, there is a need to create quality places where people want to live, work and do businesses by finding new and imaginative ways of using culture. Re-stating Durham’s importance as a cultural centre will develop pride and aspiration in the county.

About Durham Festivals and events:

In 2008, Durham hosted the award-winning Enlightenment, its first-ever international light based arts festival featuring outdoor arts installations by Asian and British artists and inspired by the county’s religious and industrial heritage. 30,000 visitors saw Durham’s bridges, river, landmarks and shop fronts transformed into a stunning exhibition of light based art. BRASS: Durham International Festival is one of the world’s fastest growing festivals celebrating global brass music. Over the past three years, Durham has welcomed musicians from five continents and more than 20 countries and annual audiences in excess of 80,000 for two weeks of free street performances and big band concerts in July. At the same time, work is underway to revive the lost tradition of Mystery plays in Durham. These biblical stories are being reinterpreted through contemporary media by local Durham artists under the direction of the city’s Gala Theatre. Durham’s Book Festival attracts leading literary figures each year to celebrate the power of the written word.

In 2008, the festival was headlined by best-selling authors, Kate Atkinson (Whitbread prize-winner – Behind the Scenes at the Museum) and Bernard Cornwell (Sharpe series), TV comedian, author and activist Mark Thomas, and veteran BBC War correspondent Kate Adie

About the bid:

Durham’s culture bid is led by Durham County Council, in partnership with County Durham Partnership, Visit County Durham and Durham City Vision. The bid will centre around the following strands:

‘Cultural City – Cultural County’: a series of activities reconnecting the communities of the county with its capital city and vice-versa, re-energising the City as the economic, social and creative heart of the county.

‘Creative Durham’: a series of activities designed to enhance the county’s cultural life, encouraging community participation in cultural activities and promote Durham as an area where creative people can live and work.

‘Festival Durham’: an ambitious programme of events and festivals which will take Durham into the next decade, cementing its position as a true cultural destination.

The new UK City of Culture competition was proposed to enable towns and cities to access the type of culture-led benefits that Liverpool achieved as European Capital of Culture in 2008. Evidence of the impact to Liverpool in 2008 can be accessed at “http://www.impact08.net” www.impact08.net . Durham will be the first predominantly rural area to bid to take advantage of the benefits culture-led regeneration brings. Funding for the proposed bid comes from Performance Award Grant, money awarded to local authorities who perform well.

Contacts:
For further information / Use of pictures / Interviews
Idea Generation: +44(0)20 7749 6853
Ellen Harrison: ellen@ideageneration.co.uk
Emily Airton: emily@ideageneration.co.uk
Durham City of Culture site

Upload and tag your pictures at www.MySpace.com/FestivalAnnual

Play your part in history by contributing to a groundbreaking new festival book alongside Jaime Winstone, Edith Bowman, Orbital, Metronomy and many more…

The UK’s first ever annual dedicated to festivals is to be launched this summer. Festival Annual will be the first ever ‘user-generated’ annual as festival-goers themselves will play a crucial role in the book’s creation. The photograph-led book will be a collection of iconic imagery and stories from the UK’s leading festivals.

With more than 100 festivals taking place across the British Isles this summer, there are plenty of opportunities to capture once-in-a-lifetime moments. Whether it’s finding love in the Stone Circle, spending the weekend dressed as your favourite super hero or drinking your own body weight in pear cider, Festival Annual is calling out to you to share your most memorable experiences.

Upload and tag pictures on Festival Annual’s digital galleries and share stories through comments and status updates. Every single contributor will get their name in the book, with the best photos and stories featuring throughout its pages and at its online home at www.myspace.com/festivalannual.

Festival Annual 2009 will be the first of an annual celebration of each year’s festival season – the photographic embodiment of each and every summer – for all those who rejoice in festival culture, being outdoors and of course, covered in mud. It will feature chapters for each of the key festivals, running all the way from Isle of Wight last month to Lovebox and Latitude this coming weekend, right through to Bestival in September.

Celebrity contributions

UK celebrities will be making their own contributions to Festival Annual too – each chapter will also feature images and musings from some of the more famous die-hard festival attendees, there to experience exactly the same kinds of thrills as your average punter.

Actress Jaime Winstone is regularly snapped at festivals:

“I’m a proper festival-goer. I love having the excuse of going and getting messy in a field and rolling around in mud. This year Glastonbury was absolutely amazing, but it was a bit different for me as I had a Winnebago, so I got to have a shower and hang out with loads of mates in the VIP bit, but it did kind of take away from the experience as well – you can stay in a caravan in any field. Festivals are about everyone coming together and all sharing a brilliant time.”

Radio One DJ Edith Bowman commented:

“Six months of my year are devoted to festivals – my favourite time of the year actually. There is so much more to festivals in the UK than just the bands. There is real camaraderie that goes on with the people who devote their weekends to hanging out in fields up and down the country. Whether they are knee high in mud, dressed as goth fairies or discovering some new band, Festival Annual 09, with the help of these people, is documenting the essence of the UK festival season so we can look back in years to come and remind ourselves of the good times.”

Throughout the summer there’ll be prizes for the best pics and you can cast your vote for the monthly winners of the Festival Annual Awards. This year’s categories are: The Best FestiDress Award, Team Festival Award, Festifunniest Award and the Spirit of the Festival Award. The monthly winners and best of the nominees will be featured in the book.

In its glossy, gorgeous, physical form, Festival Annual will be arriving on shelves and available to buy online in the Autumn but you can pre-order now online – the perfect end-of-year gift for the festival-loving, story-telling, digital generations.

In the spirit of the festival season, Festival Annual ‘09 will donate 10% of all profits to Oxfam.

Editor’s Notes

Have your festival captured by Festival Annual at:
• Rockness
• Download
• T in the Park
• Glastonbury
• Lovebox
• Latitude
• Camp Bestival
• Global Gathering
• Secret Garden Party
• The Big Chill
• Green Man
• V Festival (TBC)
• Reading & Leeds
• Electric Picnic
• Bestival

To pre-order a copy of Festival Annual visit: www.myspace.com/festivalannual

Contacts

For further information / Use of pictures
Idea Generation: +44(0)20 7749 6854
Andrew Soar: Andrew@ideageneration.co.uk
Megan Thomas: megan@ideageneration.co.uk

Websites

www.ideageneration.co.uk
For:
• Online Press Office
• Client list
• Company contact detail

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For:
• Booking information
• Product ranges
• Locations

As the sun sets on one of the hottest summers for a long time, star of BBC2’s Jimmy’s Farm Jimmy Doherty will be opening the famous Suffolk gates to host an extravaganza of mouth-watering food and feel-good music performances for Harvest at Jimmy’s.

Taking place in the heart of Suffolk, Jimmy’s Farm will be the setting for a two-day celebration of the best of British food. Harvest at Jimmy’s will showcase delicious, sustainable and freshly-made food, whilst revealing how the UK’s top chefs get the most from these ingredients through a series of master class cooking demonstrations from celebrity chefs James Martin, Gina D’Acampo, Gennaro Contaldo, James Wong and Anjum Anand. Jamie Oliver’s very own Fifteen Restaurant will be taking over the farm’s huge barn for the duration of the festival providing an interactive Jamie Oliver experience for visitors.

Harvest at Jimmy’s will provide the perfect musical line-up for an Indian summer with headline performances from platinum-selling KT Tunstall who will be giving her only performance of the summer, Ivor Novello award-winning Athlete, internationally-renowned José González, the Mercury Prize-winning Badly Drawn Boy and folk sensation Seth Lakeman, providing a blissed-out musical backdrop as the Harvest moon comes out.

In addition to the delectable treats on offer from Jimmy’s top chef friends, there will also be a farmers’ market set in the farm’s courtyard celebrating the best local produce and encouraging visitors to support our British farmers. Set on a real working farm, visitors to Harvest at Jimmy’s will also enjoy the Jimmy’s Farm Nature Trails, Woodland Walks, beautiful gardens, adventure play area – not to mention a dedicated programme of inspirational kid’s entertainment. Whilst food-lovers will relish the opportunity to nose around the Farm Shop which sells the free-range produce of the farm.

Jimmy says: “This is a very special festival which we hope will be the first of many. To have some of the country’s finest chefs like James Martin, Gennaro Contaldo and Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen cooking for us will be a real treat and will showcase our locally sourced food at its best.”

Event organiser Dominic Gomez, of Big Wheel Promotions adds: “We’re delighted to announce the details of the first ever Harvest at Jimmy’s. With such a unique combination of the UK’s finest chefs and some of the most exciting performers around – and with lots more up our sleeves to be announced – we’re confident that the festival will become the leading family foodie music festival on the summer calendar!”

MUSIC

SATURDAY

Athlete
www.athlete.mu

• Stadium-filling, indie supremos Athlete will captivate the audience with their rousing, anthemic rock; lifting spirits with hugely popular tunes like Wires and You’ve Got the Style.

José González
www.jose-gonzalez.com

• Entering our collective consciousness with the achingly beautiful Heartbeats, José González has enjoyed a meteoric rise to international acclaim for his debut album Veneer.

Badly Drawn Boy
www.myspace.com/badlydrawnboy

• Mercury Prize-winning Badly Drawn Boy has released 4 brilliant albums since his spectacular debut The Hour of the Bewilderbeast and is now firmly in the pantheon of this country’s finest songwriters.

SUNDAY

KT Tunstall
www.kttunstall.com

• Making her debut festival appearance for 2009, the incredibly talented and multiple award-winning KT Tunstall is set to dazzle crowds with a special semi-acoustic performance. With sing-along classics like Black Horse and the Cherry Tree and Suddenly I See, as well as new songs from her forthcoming album, this will be a must-see festival moment.

Seth Lakeman
www.sethlakeman.co.uk

• Born and bred in the desolate beauty of Dartmoor, Lakeman’s rise has been nothing short of sensational since his shock Mercury Music Award nomination in 2005 for his debut album Kitty Jay.

FOOD

SATURDAY

James Wong
www.growyourowndrugs.com

• James is an ethnobotanist, a scientist who studies how people use plants. In his prime time show Grow Your Own Drugs he cooked up home made herbal remedies to offer an alternative to over the counter medicines and treatments.

Gennaro Contaldo
• Gennaro Contaldo is one of the most respected chefs in London as well as a renowned personality in his own right. He is widely known as the Italian legend who taught Jamie Oliver all he knows about Italian cooking.

Gino D’Acampo
www.ginodacampo.co.uk

• Ready Steady Cook and Saturday Kitchen favourite Gino D’acampo will be sharing the cooking secrets of his
authentically Italian upbringing, with a healthy dose of his inimitable cheeky charm.

Sunday

James Martin
www.jamesmartinchef.co.uk

• James Martin has made a great impact on British cooking since arriving on our screens in 1996. Passionate about British food, James uses the best ingredients to create simple and delicious recipes, accessible to all.

Anjum Anand
www.anjumanand.co.uk

• Anjum Anand is the new face of Indian cuisine. Her six-part prime-time BBC2 series Indian Food Made Easy aired in 2007 positioned Anand as an advocate for simple, healthy, colourful, low-fat Indian food.

EDITOR’S NOTES

Big Wheel

Big Wheel is a leading national music promotions company. Established 3 years ago, Big Wheel specialises in creating bespoke live experiences throughout the UK. With relationships with the UK’s most respected venues, Big Wheel is the sole music promoters for the world famous Open Air Theatre in Regents Park, curated the live music for The Innocent Village Fete and works very closely along side such prestigious venues as The Barbican, ICA and The Frieze Art show realising new, exciting & inspirational ways to develop the live experience.

Jimmy’s Farm

As seen on TV, Jimmy’s Farm is the home of the rare breed Essex Pig. A working farm, the gates are open for visitors 7 days a week to provide a great family day out. Alongside the animals, the farm includes a Nature Trail, Woodland Walk, Beautiful Garden’s, Farm Shop, Adventure Play Area and Field Kitchen. Visitors can buy home reared free range pig produce, beef and lamb in the Jimmy’s Farm butchers or from the online shop.

Jimmy Doherty
Rare Breeds Farmer and TV Presenter

Jimmy has always been passionate about nature and farming. By the time he was 16, he was the youngest ever assistant entomologist at the Mole Hall Wildlife Park in Walden. After gaining a degree in Zoology, Jimmy worked at the Entomology Department at London’s History Museum before moving on to Coventry University where he researched for a doctorate in Entomology, set up an insect laboratory and taught Animal Ecology and Animal Philosophy to undergraduate students. But by 2003, Jimmy decided it was time to make his dream of living the good life a reality. He left London and without any experience or knowledge of farming, took on a leasehold of a 100 acre farm near Ipswich in Suffolk. Jimmy’s roller coaster journey to change this derelict farm into a rare breed pig farm has been followed in a BBC Two series called Jimmy’s Farm. The third series was shown in Autumn 2007.

TICKETS

Address: Jimmy’s Farm, Pannington Hall Lane, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP9 2AR

Nearest station: Ipswich Station

Opening Hours:
Saturday 12th September: 11am – 11pm
Sunday 13th September: 11am – 10.30pm

Tickets:

DAY: Adult – £25 / Youth – £15 / Child – FREE
WEEKEND: Adult – £45 / Youth – £27.50 / Child – FREE
Youth – 13 to 17 year olds; Child – Under 12s

Purchase via:

www.bigwheeltickets.com
020 7287 9482
www.seetickets.com

CONTACTS

For further information / Use of pictures / Interviews
Idea Generation: +44(0)20 7749 6851
Ffion Williams: ffion@ideageneration.co.uk

Eastnor Castle Deer Park, Herefordshire, Thursday 6th – Sunday 9th August 2009

Fifteen years old, but fresher and more innovative than ever before, the pioneering festival returns with an unrivalled programme of music, comedy, art, spoken word, film – and a field full of zombies

Following on from a defining year in 2008, The Big Chill returns with a line-up packed to the rafters with some of the most credible names across culture and entertainment. Led by a musical triumvirate that features the iconic David Byrne, dance legends Basement Jaxx and the specially-reformed Orbital, this year’s festival will again be a multi-art form celebration as rich as it is diverse.
Epic experimentalists Spiritualized will bring their stunning set to Eastnor, as will Adrian Sherwood’s Dub Syndicate, recently reunited electronic duo Lamb and Arizona-based rockers Calexico. A strong European dance contingent will include electronica acts Gablé and To Rococo Rot together with French psychedelics Gong.

There will also be festival homecomings Tom Middleton, the indispensable Norman Jay and through the weekend Mr Scruff’s Tea Party will be hijacking Big Chill Radio.

The Coop – a new tent for The Big Chill 2009 – will be hosted on Friday afternoon by Wonky Pop featuring indie-disco-dance hybrids Friendly Fires alongside Alphabeat DJs and a trio of up-and-coming talent in the shape of Magistrates, Marina & The Diamonds and Dan Black. Glaswegian stalwarts Sub Club will host the evening session with DJ sets from Slam, Optimo and Subculture.

London uber-cool trendsetters Horse Meat Disco will then share proceedings with fellow Saturday residents, bohemian internationalists Favela Chic, whose line-up will consist of Ska Cubano, Zombie Zombie and DJ Sandrinho.

With the gates opening at 10am on Thursday 6th August there will an extra full day of festival festivities to partake in – making The Big Chill 2009 a real Summer ‘staycation’.

That evening, courtesy of the BFI, the Mercury Award nominated British Sea Power will perform a UK festival exclusive on the Open Air Stage, as they re-score both the classic Man of Aran, as well as providing a soundtrack to scenes from Jacques Perrin’s stunning documentary Winged Migration.

Film

Thursday will also see an invasion of the undead as Film4 and Warp Films invite Chillers to take part in an attempt to secure an entry into the Guinness Book of Records by shooting the world’s first and largest audience participation zombie motion picture. A downloadable movie, available at the end of the festival, will hopefully capture the largest-ever number of zombies on camera.

Ensuring the nerve jangling does not stop there, Film4 will proceed to screen an all-nighter of eerie flicks.
Through the festival, Film4 will present the Dereliction Drive-In, of deserted and abandoned cars, among, on and in which, Chillers may roam, sit and crash out. As screens play ghostly re-mixes of classic and imagined road movies, car stereos will crackle with soundtracks specially recorded by guest artists and DJs.

This year will also see the all new Film4 Cinema Tent, where super cool road movies will be shown, hot on the heels of their amazing success with Slumdog Millionaire, alongside Bollywood and Bollywood-inspired classics. And Bollywood dance classes will be held in tandem for those who wish to don their salwar kameez and cut some shapes in front of the silver screen.

This will also be the home for The BFI, who along with The ICA, return for a second year. Inspired by the 40th anniversary of the moon landing and the international year of astronomy, they will each curate a unique mix of feature length and short films, live scores and talks.

Comedy

Held in the rural idyll of Eastnor Castle Deer Park, The Big Chill 2009 will also host the cream of comedy.

Having wooed and wowed Chillers in equal numbers at the festival last year, with a triumphant headline appearance on the main stage with his Boosh sidekicks, Noel Fielding will be back with a solo stand up show in the Coop.

Joining him on Saturday afternoon for a triple header of huge stars will be Dylan Moran and Russell Howard.

Now an established stop-off for top performers, this year will see the festival awash with award winners and Edinburgh’s finest. Underbelly return to the Big Chill Nights Tent with a witty contingent comprising Barry Castagnola (MC), Stephen Grant, Terry Saunders, Jerry O’Donnell, Ray Peacock, Sean Hughes, Pierre Hollins, Ben Norris, Marcus Birdman, Rob Rouse, Mitch Benn, Ian Stone, Craig Campbell and Josie Long.

Cabaret and Circus

Circus ensemble NoFit State will bring their family show and workshops to the festival, as well as a specially devised after midnight performance for adults only.

The kooky and strange Perverse Universe return with aerial acrobatics and cabaret. Expect a weekend of aerial circus and awe-inspiring fire shows. All rounded off by Jonny Woo’s deliciously wicked variety show spectacular, featuring Gay Bingo and Hot Breath Karaoke.

Photography, Art and Spoken Word

World famous photographer Rankin – a man who has snapped everyone from Tony Blair to the Queen, via the likes of Kate Moss her celebrity contemporaries – is inviting festival-goers to take part in his unique live and interactive exhibition concept Rankin Live!

Before he shoots and instantly prints the portraits of 1,000 Brits at his museum-scale exhibition in August, Rankin is holding an open call process for people aged 13 and over, the only criteria of which is a distinctive style, with sense of British eccentricity and enthusiasm.

Normally a Brick Lane neighbour of the festival’s Big Chill Bar, the Vauxhall Art Car Boot Fair has presented an astonishing selection of exciting art works and art wares from some of the UK’s foremost artists since 2004, including Gavin Turk, Sir Peter Blake, Bob and Roberta Smith, Stuart Semple and Tracey Emin.

Heading for the hills on a rural road trip away from its familiar east London home, one of the country’s most innovative art fairs will park up The Big Chill 2009. As a ‘fete within the festival’ it will be a haven for both browsers and bargain hunters throughout the weekend.

With its own Village Green at the heart of festival, Chillers will also be able to play the human fruit machine Yoo Froot! and enjoy a karaoke sing along with the fabulous East End party house, the Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club.

Artist Henry Krokatsis has been working closely with the Art Trail curator Alice Sharp developing his ideas to respond to Eastnor Castle’s landscape and festival setting.

He will create a ten metre high ‘helter-skelter-lighthouse’ as a centre piece for the festival. It will be situated on the lake by the main stage and illuminated after dark by festoons wrapped around its skeleton.

Word In Motion offers a programme featuring word gamesters from all walks of life – authors, comedians, lyricists, late night storytellers and lovers of language bring a weekend of entertainment with a difference.

Apples and Snakes return to the tent with their offering of fresh and funky spoken words. Ursula Rucker is also back to headline, along with eminent UK street poets, the legendary Liverpool poet Brian Patten and the remarkable, cooler than a cucumber, author, broadcaster and performer Lemn Sissay.

The talks programme is introduced by publisher James Brown and will feature Tony Benn and music mogul and festival producer Vince Power.

The Victorian Funfair and Kids Zone

Experience some Victorian time-warp fun as you gallop with glee on the Pony ride Carousel, or get high in the sky over the festival on the helter skelter as the Victorian Funfair returns to The Big Chill, along with its 19th century flat-capped and bonneted crew.

Enchanted Garden

With the 15th birthday celebrations this year, The Big Chill has been looking back to its roots and redefining what it means to chill out. Set in a beautiful woodland space and placing equal emphasis on surroundings and performance, Stop the City will be the place to escape the rat race. It will feature artists, sound-based installations and visuals that lie far from mainstream life. Expect anything from found sounds, classical to minimalist electronic perhaps with a dose of interactivity.

The area will also feature a knitting area, Crap Stage, the Busker’s Stage, in association with SolarAid, tethered balloon, therapies and Monkey Shoulder.

The Crap Stage is calling all bands, magicians, contortionists, poets, orators and assorted musicians to perform this year. Traditional backline and costumes provided but please feel free to bring your ukulele and a sense of humour to join in on a first come first served basis.

Following on from the eccentric and joyous delights of last year’s presence; The Buskers are returning with performing pirates, Dr Butlers Hatstand Medicine Band and the debut festival appearance of Another Fine Day’s new acoustic project based around the Hang Drum and the Aray Mbira.

SolarAid, a charity that empowers the world’s poorest communities to create clean renewable power, have hooked up with the festival to create The Busker Stage.

The Big Issue

The new landmark collaborations for 2009, with the likes of Vauxhall and Film4, add breadth to the content of the event – alongside the breakthrough partnerships which were set-up last year, and return this.

One of those formed in 2008, the festival’s friendship with The Big Issue has since grown ever-stronger, and was chosen to help mark the mid-teen anniversary. On 16th March 2009 an album was released to help raise money for the homeless charity, with all profits from the 15 by 15: a celebration of 15 years of The Big Chill compilation going to the aid organisation.

The track listing was determined by 15 Big Chill luminaries selecting a tune each. The audio scrapbook features the likes of Norman Jay MBE, Gilles Peterson, Tom Middleton, Mr Scruff, Coldcut, Tuung, Jon Hopkins and the Big Chill Forum dwellers. Opting for tracks by Orbital, The Cinematic Orchestra, 4 Hero, The Orb, Ulrich Schnauss and Jon Shuttleworth the memento serves as a permanent reminder of bygone Summers.

Official vendors will again be back selling souvenir Big Chill special editions of the magazine to supplement the festival programme.

Rough Trade

The Big Chill has also partnered with Rough Trade, the pioneering record label and iconic outlet.

Getting Ready For The Big Chill

Before the festival itself, come The Big Chill warm-up parties. Following March’s London launch at Cargo where queues snaked through Shoreditch for a taster from Orbital’s Phil Hartnoll, The Big Chill will board the Eurostar and is bound for Paris.

On Wednesday 22nd April will go international for a preview party in the French capital at Favela Chic – Futurecop! and Gablé will play live with DJ sets from Toddla T and Gringo da Para.

The line up so far….

www.bigchill.net/festival/info/line-up

Alice Russell
Alphabeat DJ Set
Barry Castagnola
Basement Jaxx
Bassclef
Ben Norris
Benny Page
Boy Crisis
Calexico
Capoeira
Chinese Man
Chrome Hoof
Congo Natty
Dan Black
David Byrne (Sunday)
DJ Derek
DJ Sandrinho
Dub Syndicate
Favela Chic
Friendly Fires
Futurecop!
Gablé
Greg Wilson
Gong
Horse Meat Disco
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble
J Star & MC Honey Brown
Jeremy O’Donnel
Joana and the Wolf
John Hegley & the Popticians
Kode 9 & Space Ape
Lamb
Lindstrom
Ludovico Einaudi (Sunday)
Magistrates
Marina & The Diamonds
Moody Boyz
Mr Scruff’s Tea Party
Mulalu & Helicentrics
Mungo’s Hi-Fi
Music from The Penguin Café
Norman Jay (Sunday)
Optimo
Orbital
Pharoah Sanders
Pierre Hollins
Ray Peacock
Red Rack’em
Red Sarah Perverse Universe
Richie Phoe
Robin Ince
Ska Cubano
Slam
Spiritualized
Sub Club
Subculture
Summer of Dub
The Gist
Tim Sweeney & Tim Goldsworthy
Toddla T feat MC Serocee
To Rococco Rot
Tom Middleton – One More Tune set (Sunday)
Wonky Pop
Zombie Zombie

Woodstock Experience

Four decades on from the festival that shook the world, Idea Generation Gallery celebrates the anniversary of Woodstock with an exhibition of amazing photographs, all taken from the artist-endorsed, limited edition multi-media package; Woodstock Experience, published by Genesis Publications.

Featuring over 200 photographs by official Woodstock photographer Henry Diltz, and unseen and unpublished images by a star-struck but quick-witted teen photographer Dan Garson, Woodstock Experience provides a visual trip through these legendary days in a field in upstate New York.

Each two-part edition includes contributions from original interviews with 65 artists and luminaries, including Crosby, Stills and Nash, Carlos Santana and Arlo Guthrie and the festival’s organiser Michael Lang. The cover artwork has been designed by internationally renowned artist Shepard Fairey, and contains never before published lyrics, drawings, poems, monographs, diary entries and an original, vintage Woodstock ticket. Woodstock Experience is the ultimate record of one of the greatest moments in popular music history, and profiles the hippies, beatniks, musicians and festival organisers who were part of this cultural explosion in the summer of 1969.

Press access to the book

Click here for access to all the pages of the two volume limited edition book ‘Woodstock Experience’ by
Genesis Publications.