A Word (or several) From 'The Boss'
A very warm welcome to the 9th Stevenage Festival.
Back in 1994, fed up with jokes about Stevenage, like culture,
yoghurt and the A1, it was decided to set up a local festival
of the arts to showcase the wealth of talent that we knew
existed in Stevenage and surrounding villages. Since then
the Festival has become a regular occurrence featuring, over
its life, literally thousands of local amateur performers.
We are particularly keen to support the ambitions of our talented
younger performers and give them as much encouragement as
possible, whether they are aiming for stardom, or just joining
in for the love of what they are doing.
We are extremely lucky in Stevenage to have the facility
of the Gordon Craig Theatre – a modern, spacious venue
- on our doorstep. Our fortnight of performances at the Gordon
Craig forms the core of the Festival. We have something for
everyone - classical and choral music, poetry, drama, dance,
musical theatre, wildlife photography, a ‘whodunnit’
murder mystery and an Old Tyme Music Hall. The Festival will
finish on a high note with our very own ‘Last Night
of the Proms’ performance requiring maximum audience
participation.
Over the past few years we have also developed a Festival
fringe – smaller events taking place in and around the
town. Again we have an amazing variety of events on offer,
ranging from a lecture on Byzantium by historian John Julius
Norwich to a patchwork workshop and a virtual tour of Paris!
We all know that times are hard at the moment for many people.
For that reason we have kept this year’s ticket prices
firmly under control. Almost all the Gordon Craig events will
cost you less than a tenner for a ticket, with some performances
and most of the fringe events costing even less.
I would like to finish by thanking all the groups and performers
who will be working so hard to produce fine performances.
Also thanks are due to the dedicated volunteers on the Festival
organising Committee, Stevenage Borough Council which makes
the whole thing financially possible, the staff of the Gordon
Craig and the Comet newspaper for their assistance with promotion
and publicity. And also thanks to our patrons for their moral
support and encouragement.
So get out your diary, block out the second half of June
and let us entertain you!
Ron Walker
Chairman, Stevenage Festival
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