Sue Crabtree - Festival Co-Director

Sue comes to the newly created Sleaford Festival from a 15 year sojourn as Director of Nottinghamshire Next Stage - a participatory arts provision taking creative opportunities and events in to the heart of Nottinghamshire communities The Magic the ensues from professional artists and performers working together with communities to create a piece of art for an event which is truly their own, is a source of ongoing wonder and amazement which has attracted Sue to this exciting new possibility in Sleaford. To be Co-Director of this Festival alongside Christine Hayward could prove to be as enduring and successful a double act as Morecambe and Wise - here's hoping!

Christine Hayward - Festival Co-Director

Christine has been lucky enough to have worked in the arts for over 20 years in a variety of very stimulating, demanding, but never boring roles, since leaving Loughborough School of Art and Design. This eventually led her to work at Nottingham Playhouse in areas as diverse as Deputy Corporate Services Manager (being the person in the organisation with the longest title) through to Community Outreach Officer. Theatre has always been a passion of hers but after an extensive period of working exclusively within it the time was right to move on to new challenges. Christine now delights in creating festivals and events which capture imaginations, excite participants and live long in the memory, events aimed at the whole family with both local, national and international
flavours. Sleaford Arts Festival is the next exciting challenge for her.

Life-sized knitted shed to be part of sleaford arts festival - labyrinth

Come and see a life-sized knitted shed complete with woolly window boxes, knitted creepy crawlies, sun flowers, hanging baskets and a watering can.  The knitted shed formed the centre piece of the this year’s I Love West Leeds Festival held on Sunday 8th July. The shed was the ‘showcase’ of a  Guerrilla knits project in west Leeds which attracted support from knitting enthusiasts across the country.  

There was over 100 knitting fans, aged 5 to 90 from as far afield as Hull, Huddersfield, the Dales and even Maidenhead in Kent involved in the project under the guidance of artist Liz Noble who is a dab hand at producing such delicacies as knitted wedding cakes and even knitted biscuits.   Liz worked with local community groups and schools in West Leeds to produce the shed, which comes complete with knitted hinges, doormat and plant pots. 

One of the aims of the project is to encourage the older generation to spread their knitting know-how to younger people in the community.  Liz has encouraged participation from individuals, community groups, older people’s groups and schools to knit small items and patchwork squares.  The inside of the shed consists of hundreds of brightly coloured knitted squares, each of which represents the age of the person who knitted it.  Contributors cast on the same number of stitches as their age, so the older you were the bigger the square! 

“The project has not only revived a traditional skill but has encouraged dialogue between intergenerational groups and provided an activity that families can do together” said Jane Earnshaw, I Love West Leeds Festival Co – ordinator.  “We hope it will also kick-start new knitting groups to continue after the festival.”

The World Famous set to make Sleaford Arts Festival end with a bang!

The finale will be truly explosive with help from the internationally acclaimed pyrotechnic experts The World Famous. The company has a passion for playing with fire and create  fabulous firework displays across the world.

The company has worked on many festivals around the globe from Sydney to Brighton. As well as a fantastic firework display they will also being setting on fire the sculptural creatures that were part of the procession. 

View www.theworldfamous.co.uk for more details about the company.

Dream Engine's Heliosphere will take Sleaford Arts Festival to new heights.  

At the end of the procession, around Sleaford, the gathered crowds will be amazed by Dream Engine's gravity defying act Heliosphere. The Heliosphere is a giant colour changing helium balloon with an acrobat suspended beneath. The acrobat will spiral and spin over the heads of the audience.