Welcome to the Frome Festival 2008
This year the 2008 dates are Friday 4th to Sunday 13th July.
Welcome to Frome Festival 2008.
It was an honour to be invited to take on the role of Guest Creative Director for the 2008 Frome Festival. Under the guidance of Martin Bax, the festival has grown to become a major asset to Frome. The Times newspaper ran a feature last year on the large number of arts festivals around the UK , placing Frome Festival in the top five. Coupled with Martin Bax's MBE award, this was a remarkable acknowledgement of how far the event has come in only seven years.
I know from experience of running the European Community of Stones (ECOS) Festival in the early nineties, that programming big events, year in year out, requires enormous determination, support and teamwork. Undaunted by the failure to achieve Arts Council subsidy last year, the Festival Board, the Creative Team, and many others, decided that Frome Festival would continue regardless. To assemble this year's wonderful programme they have applied for local grants, obtained commercial sponsorship, liaised with artists, performers, workshop leaders and venue organisers throughout the town.
I think it is for the community itself to decide on the highlights of the 2008 programme, but I must take this opportunity to thank Paul Merton and his team for appearing once again. We are also delighted to have another comedy genius, Ken Dodd, back in the programme. Dudley Sutton, who appeared at Water's Edge in 2007, also makes a welcome return this year with his unique one-man show. And two well-known personalities making their festival debuts are folk/jazz singer June Tabor and cellist Julian Lloyd Webber. I would also like to thank Jan Ayres, a promoter who has brought some fantastic names to the festival this year, including 10cc, Seth Lakeman, Courtney Pine, Glenn Tilbrook and Clare Teal.
The Creative Team was keen that this year's programme should reflect the diversity and vibrancy of the town's own growing and developing community - a celebration of 'the world within Frome'. We are particularly delighted, therefore, to welcome the world-renowned British Asian singer, Sheila Chandra; eminent Spanish pianist, Maria Angel Garcia, who performs a Chopin recital; and the Czech physical theatre company Jolly Jumps. We are also thrilled that the community is opening its own doors in an unprecedented way, with Open Gardens , Open Studios, and the inaugural 'Through the Keyhole' programme of unusual happenings and events. The Blue House will again be opening its doors to non-residents as an exceptional exhibition space, as well as hosting Frome Drama Club's production of 'Blue Remembered Hills' in the beautiful garden. And Longleat Great Hall once again hosts a fantastic gala evening of music and poetry.
Frome is the ideal festival town. There are probably more performing spaces in Frome per head of the population than anywhere in Britain . Our thanks go to staff at the Memorial Theatre, the Merlin Theatre, Rook Lane Arts, and the Cheese and Grain Hall for devoting their venues to the festival; and to Longleat House, the Masonic Hall, Black Swan Arts, and the numerous pubs, cafes, galleries, churches and halls who are hosting exhibitions, workshops and performances this year. We hope all our visitors to Frome, as well as those who form part of our own vibrant community, will enjoy the 2008 Festival, and that Frome Festival will continue to flourish for years to come.
Martin Dimery
Guest Creative Director
President: Mrs Angela Yeoman OBE DL
Vice President and Founder: Mr Martin Bax MBE
Brochure Printers: Butler and Tanner
Cover and Poster Illustration: © Sholto Walker www.mywholeportfolio.com/sholtowalker
Cover and Poster Art Editor: Julia Gray
Production Editor: Nicki Marshall, BiscuitBox Ltd
Proofreader: Dave Gatward
Art Editor: Alan Henning, www.alanhenning.co.uk
Web Producer: Coralie Hyde, www.netspiration.com
