Kensington and Chelsea will come alive with world class public art, music, and live performances this summer as it is transformed with an incredible free festival celebrating local imagination, innovation, and culture. The festival champions creativity in every form across performance and visual arts, including circus, opera, dance, music, spoken word, young people’s take-over stages, talks and workshops. The festival aims to set a new standard as a visionary arts event, actively engaging local communities and built through genuine collaboration with individuals, organisations and residents spanning the entire area.
Co-creation, experimentation and open sharing will feed into the formation of extraordinary experiences in extraordinary times. The festival is driven by desire for positive impact and the aim of supporting the borough’s diverse community and creative practitioners, as they remerge from a long year of Covid lockdown. The curated outdoor programming is free of charge, and with ‘pay as much as you want’ policy making scheduled activities accessible to everyone.
Passionate about empowering locals, much of the focus is on young people, community organisations and residents exploring their creativity. The inspirational and surprising experiences will be safe and with the latest Covid-safety regulations in mind, including in-person events and online interactive ways to get involved.
We believe it’s everyone’s right to help shape culture and influence possibilities. Local people, artists, audiences, staff and volunteers will reflect the diversity of our global borough and global reach.” comment festival organisers Verena Cornwall and Vestalia Chilton.
The festival has been made possible by funding from Kensington and Chelsea Council, who are excited to reinvest in culture and real-life experiences for local people in the wake of Covid 19. Councillor Emma Will, Lead Member for Culture, Leisure and Community Safety at Kensington and Chelsea Council comments:
“We’re pleased to be a partner and major supporter of the Kensington and Chelsea Festival. A spectacular summer cultural event, it was important for the Council to provide funding and help produce exciting local events as the festival makes it’s big London debut. The festival brings together showstopping performances, opportunities for artists and much more, to give visitors and residents alike the chance to be inspired by culture that’s close to home. It is a fantastic way for all to indulge in the arts in our borough safely and creatively as we continue to recover from the pandemic. Whatever your preferences, the festival has a number of events for people of all ages to enjoy and we look forward to seeing it all come to life.”
