A team of creatives is to take over Windermere Jetty Museum with the Forge Festival bringing a day of live performances.
Forge Festival is a day of original pop-up performance, dance and music created by young people, for young people. Taking place across the entire site of Windemere Jetty Museum this is a chance to see the culmination of a four-month creative process led by The Knotted Project theatre company.
Diverse groups of young people aged 11-25 from across Cumbria have been working with professional artists to develop creative responses to the theme of ‘The Future Fight’.
The Knotted Project has worked with partner organisations to recruit and support three youth companies formed especially for this project. These are; TKP Young company, directed by Natalie Morrell and supported by Windermere Jetty Museum, Carer Support South Lakes Young Company directed by Chris Brown with rehearsal space provided by Brewery Arts, and Forge Youth Dance Company directed by Josh Hawkins and supported by Theatre by the Lake.
There is a solo dance piece choreographed and performed by Philomena Dickson, plus spoken word written and recorded by Zane Burkmar. The festival creative team features film-maker Nick Farrimond, composer and sound designer for live performance Charlotte Barber, Lee Affen providing film composition and sound design, mental health practitioner Sarah Fairweather and Emily Edwards who is associate practitioner with The Knotted Project.
These short performances will take place in inspiring outdoor and unusual spaces across the museum throughout this Sunday, starting at 11am. The festival is free to attend with museum admission. For this festival anyone aged 16-25 years old can access the student admission price of £7, proof of age or a student card must be shown on arrival.
This is year one of an ambitious two-year project by The Knotted Project to champion talent development alongside wellbeing and resilience for young people in Cumbria. The project is supported by youth mental health charity, Wave Forward and a team of strategic partners including Lakeland Arts.
“What makes Forge Festival so exciting, is that for the first time ever, young people are bringing fresh perspectives and breathing life into these non-traditional performance spaces at Windermere Jetty Museum. What’s emerged from speaking and working with these groups of young people is that the last two years have been difficult, impacting negatively on their confidence and sense of wellbeing,” said Natalie Morrell, Director of The Knotted Project Theatre Company.
“The aim of this project is to help young people emerge from the pandemic feeling creative, inspired and capable of shaping their futures. Physical theatre, dance, music and drama offer such a powerful medium for communication and expression of ideas. I can’t wait to see the performances in the spaces and the responses from museum visitors and festival attendees!”
Ian Read, head of engagement and content at Lakeland Arts, added: “This project is exciting because it shows how working in partnership with other key arts and community organisations across Cumbria can help deliver transformational experiences for the young people in our region. One of the most striking things about this project has been the need to create a safe space for open discussion and sharing.
“This has empowered the young people involved to explore challenging topics, think about different perspectives, and shape their ideas into meaningful performance pieces. Forge Festival is part of Lakeland Arts’ commitment to supporting the development of emerging creative voices in Cumbria.”
