Basingstoke Festival launches packed programme

Residents and visitors are being urged to block out their diaries from Friday 22 June to Sunday 15 July to celebrate the talent in the borough as Basingstoke Festival’s packed programme is launched.

The first ever festival of its kind in the borough, offering dance, music, theatre, comedy, musical theatre, creative art, exhibitions and events is launched.

Members of Basingstoke and Deane’s Cultural Forum joined the borough council’s Cabinet Member for Communities, Sport and Culture Cllr Elaine Still to launch the programme at Basingstoke Discovery Centre, which is one of the locations where people will be able to pick up a programme or log onto to the festival website at www.basingstokefestival.co.uk.  Twitter users can also get the latest updates on the festival by following @BstokeFestival.

The festival kicks off with a world premiere of a new classical work commissioned with the Philarmonia Orchestra for The Anvil’s eighteenth birthday and stand-up comedy at Central Studio.  There is also Shakespeare’s ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ in the Walled Garden at Down Grange all on the opening night.   

Other highlights include over 400 singers from 10 local choirs performing a special concert, children’s classic The Railway Children being performed in the grounds of National Trust property The Vyne and a film festival, stand-up comedy and unsigned bands at Central Studio.  On the day the Olympic Torch comes through Basingstoke – Wednesday 11 July - The Complete World of Sport (Abridged) will be played out in the Anvil stage by the Reduced Shakespeare Company. .

The programme includes a film festival, community walks with Basingstoke Ramblers Club  and The Queens Diamond Jubilee Concert with Lesley Garrett.  Dance performances range from a youth dance troop, Flamenco and Latin to traditional Irish and Indian dance.  Toddlers’ favourite Tiddler, together with other tales by author Julia Donaldson, will be brought to life on The Haymarket stage.   All the family can bring a picnic along to enjoy the Party in the Park in Eastrop Park or the Mosaic Festival of Diversity in Glebe Gardens.

The successful Basingstoke Live music event provides the finale to the festival on Saturday 14 July and Sunday 15 July.

Cabinet Member for Communities, Sport and Culture Cllr Elaine Still said: “This is the first time there has been an arts and cultural event of this kind in Basingstoke and Deane and it’s a place that we have so much to be proud of. With over 90 events in over 20 venues, it will be a real community celebration of the best of the local cultural scene. The programme really reflects the theme ‘bringing variety to life’, with events taking place across the borough in locations as diverse as The Anvil, The Malls Shopping Centre, the historic Vyne and Basing House  and The Walled Garden at Down Grange as well as bars, parks and community centres.”