Marking its 20th year, Bloomsbury Festival is returning with a month-long celebration of local artists and organisations with over 150 events spanning theatre, music, exhibitions, literature and science across more than 40 venues. In Bloomsbury and Camden’s streets, parks, museums and galleries, events span from hyperlocal – including an exhibition of 20 years of Bloomsbury Festival photography and a performance revealing how a humble yard behind Great Ormond Street shaped modern Bloomsbury – to the international, theatre that road trips from the UK to Lebanon, and dance from Vietnam that explores mental and emotional wellbeing with participants, and poetry reflecting cultural roots from Africa to the Caribbean. Many events are free or pay what you can, and paid for events are kept affordable prices ranging from free to £30, with many events Pay as You Can.
The theme for this year is ‘Create and Celebrate’, reflecting on 20 years of new arts that continues to be inspired by the Festival. The Festival opens on 1 Oct with exhibitions around Bloomsbury and an evening science comedy event at UCL, and closes on 31 Oct with dance event AKDC Diwali Takeover and an outdoor Diwali Festival, and with Nosferatu (1922) with Live Organ Improvisation (30 Oct) in time for Halloween. Emerging themes this year include a wealth of textile exhibitions, including Threads in Common: Textiles as Witness in Wartime (9 Oct), a participatory workshop showcasing an international collaboration led by the University of Huddersfield and European universities hosted at The Friends House Library. Newly found archives are also cropping up, including EM Forster’s Legacy of Connection: Unseen Memorabilia (1 Oct) and Blackout (22 Oct), both with accompanying talks.
Performance highlights include PATIENT: SOLDIER (11 Oct) from Olivier Award nominated director Daniel Clarkson, one of the many events in partner venue City Lit’s packed programme. The one-woman dark comedy, narrated by the Grim Reaper in an overwhelmed hospital in 2020, has previously sold out in Ireland and at Seven Dials Playhouse. In Bloomsbury’s Back Yard: The History of a Forgotten Community (10 Oct), festival regulars The Good Companions unearth the history of Ormond Yard, through vibrant storytelling and live vintage songs. Laughter is the Best Medicine (1 Oct) is a medical comedy night, and Nuns With Tattoos (17 Oct) is a cabaret by British-Jamaican queer Christian artist Esther Foga; an intimate voyage of self-discovery.
Walks and talks include many from UCL; as well as celebrating their own 20th year, Bloomsbury Festival celebrates UCL200 with a programme of events, including UCL Walking Tour (14 Oct) created for the university’s bicentenary year. Elsewhere is 200 Years of Garden History in Brunswick Square (24 Oct), an encore for the Ballad Walks created by the Bloomsbury Festival, musician Vivien Ellis and Camden Guides which sold out last year, and many other exploring the Bloomsbury area, its people, its art and its literature. In the workshops part of the programme, BODY WISDOM – An Introduction to Dance / Movement Therapy (15 Oct) aims to reconnect participants with their bodies, minds, emotions and spirit, and is followed by film screening What Makes You Proud Film,featuring four community-led mental health organisations. Newcomers The Avieli Arthouse offer performance workshops at Holy Cross alongside two evening events showcasing and discussing work of emerging performers and writers in Bloomsbury , Between the City and Me (2 Oct) and UpLIft (3 Oct) on the first weekend of the festival.
In exhibitions, local photographer Stuart Keegan showcases 20 Years of Bloomsbury Festival Photography (3 Oct). Presented in partnership with The Imperial, the exhibition also has a preview discussion as part of the London Design Festival on 16 Sept. Moments of Grace (2 – 31 Oct) is an immersive oral history installation distilling a century of nursing and midwifery stories into one time-bending 24-hour shift. The Science of Growing Minds: What Research Can Tell Us About Childhood Development (29 – 30 Oct) is a free exhibition of from Birkbeck’s developmental science department including hands-on activities for 2- 10 year olds. Other family and children’s activity includes the Discovery Hub featuring scientists from numerous UCL departments, open 22 – 24 Oct with a mix of science and creative activities for schools, families and the general public
New Wave, Bloomsbury Festival’s dedicated platform for nurturing new talent will be presenting nine local artists and organisations including
Theatre: All About the Birds (23 Oct), is a poetic exploration of what freedom can mean in parallel road trips in Manchester and Lebanon
Exhibition: Next Steps (2 – 31 Oct) showcases artworks from fine artists emerging from local art schools.
Music: A Classical Guitar Voyage (1 Oct) performed by Bloomsbury resident Eva Victoria Schokmel, and Jazz Duo: Lucy Joy + Thomas Sladden (30 Oct) from a piano/vocal duo from Guidhall School of Music and Drama
Further music programming includes Mad Song play Steve Reich (8 Oct), when the specialist new-music ensemble will explore repetition in music, and City Lit Big Band – Close Up (24 Oct).
The 20th year also marks the final one for Festival Director Rosemary Richards, who has been in post since 2020. She said,“We celebrate all parts of life in Bloomsbury, the businesses, the large universities and institutions and the local communities. We hope to be a catalyst for people to create work they might not otherwise be able to stage, or present, and to share the outcomes of academic work and research with neighbouring communities. This year we close the festival with a daytime South Asian dance and music Diwali celebration indoors and outdoors at Cromer Street on 31st October and look forward to welcoming both locals and wider communities from across London to these and many other events through the whole month of October”.
With a blend of academic institutions, businesses, cultural organisations and diverse communities, Bloomsbury has been a catalyst for ideas that have had impact across the world for hundreds of years. The Festival celebrates a hotbed of creativity and pioneering development which has one of the youngest and most diverse populations in the country. Bloomsbury Festival is a Registered charity
