Can you tell me more about Revelation and the work you do?

Revelation is an independent arts trust established in 2011 . Our  aim is to provide an ‘up close and personal’ experience and be  the go-to organisation for arts and culture in Ashford, in real terms that means creating a vibrant and diverse programme that makes people want more, in an amazing and unique space.

What have been some highlights?

It’s easy to reel off some of the big names we’ve had, they include This Is The Kit , Courtney Pine , Seth Lakeman , The Orb but some of my personal favourites are The Craig Charles Soul and Funk Club, where the venue was literally jumping up and down, rising Kent talent with the fabulous Bay Rays and Ladybirdand magical evenings with Tom Mcrae and Villagers. And of course, coming up we have Huey Morgan of Fun Lovin’ Criminals  and Terry Hall of The Specials doing DJ sets as part of Create Platform.

How does the partnership with Create Festival and Revelation help support the local music scene?

It’s a vital partnership!  Create serves as a platform and showcase for the best there is  in Kent and beyond and the Revelation stage is for me the most exciting space around  where you get to see new and established talent. Revelation and has developed a reputation over that past few years as the ‘happening’ stage at Create , where you’re not quite sure what you will get but you know it will be good.  Revelation is always looking out for emerging artists we can support back at the ‘mothership’ by offering paid support sets for artists wherever we can or performing on Ashford Bandstand, so  Create and Revelation are always working together to harvest the best new talent and support and nurture others including training opportunities and advice.

How did you choose the artists playing this year?

A  mammoth task of  listening to over 200 submissions to play and we do listen to them all. The Create panel then comes together to compare notes and look at which act might fit better where and a few spirited discussion here and there when we  might be fight to have the same act on various stages but eventually  somehow we all agree and it just comes together.

Who are you looking forward to seeing at the festival?

So many! Tall Poppies, Marie White (who has just won the 2019 Glastonbury Emerging Talent Award) and our headliners The Fontanas with their fab blend of soul and funk and North America. Plus, of course, the festival headliners Lightning Seeds.

Also published on the Create Festival blog.

Together the films present an exciting and vibrant collection of stories exploring cultural heritage, historic curiosities, devoted communities, and ways individuals navigate modern life.

The Foundling by Leo Crane is an untold tale of abandonment and dreams. 144 Units by Ian Gouldstone was inspired by the inhabitants of the tower block in which he lives, and focuses on the mundane objects that make up daily living. Anushka Kishani Naanayakkara’s A Place to Think is a meditative film, inspired by the architecture and natural environment found at the Amaravati Buddhist Monastery. Sir John Lubbock’s Pet Wasp is by Osbert Parker and Laurie Hill and is one of their trademark ‘strange but true’ tales, inspired by turn of the century Victorian Sir John Lubbock’s story and his scientific writings on Ants, Bees & Wasps. The Stereoscopic Society from Kate Sullivan tells the story of the 3D enthusiast club of the same name.

The films will be launched on Instagram and Vimeo throughout November, shown in in the Anim18 newly commissioned VR Gallery at QUAD, Derby, from 1 November to 3 January 2019.

Anim18 is a UK-wide celebration of British animation, taking place from April to November 2018. Led by Film Hub Wales and Chapter (Cardiff) working with the BFI Film Audience Network and project partners, Anim18 showcases the best of British talent – past, present and future – through a programme of screenings, activities and events across the UK.

It will be the festival’s eleventh year, and as usual the focus is on uncovering emerging new talent at the same time as bringing iconic artists to intimate spaces. Taking place during the first spring bank holiday Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th May 2018, across the Baltic Triangle and Cains Brewery, the line up promises to be vibrant and diverse. They’ve just announced the first ten acts, and tastes are suitably whetted. Peace, Slow Readers Club, Ibibio Sound Machine, Baxter Dury, Idles, Jaws, Low Island, Cassia, The Orielles and Zuzu will all be performing at next year’s festival, which promises to be bigger and better than ever.

World news comes by way of Guardian star-journo Matthew D’Acona in conversation with legendary columnist & author David Aaronovitch. Comedians Shappi Khorsandi and Geoff Norcott tackle UK News. Sofar Sounds take on the Culture section with a selection of some of the finest unplugged acts. The science & technology section sees philosopher-scientist extraordinaire and co-writer of Ex Machina & World War Z Adam Rutherford. A panel of remarkable female adventurers including Anna McNuff, Lois Pryce and Pip Stewart take on the travel section. And popular science writer Marcus Chown hosts a walk – taking you to the edge of the solar system via the top of Primrose Hill. And as no Sunday is complete without a roast dinner and lashings of red wine, big cosy arm chairs and a roaring fire, and conversations with like minded people, there will be plenty of that on offer too.

Sunday Papers Live came out of a conversation in 2012 between two festival producers Ben DeVere & Joshua Greene. The guys organise festivals, which take a long time to build, but ‘you only see the fruits in the summer.’ The idea was to create something a bit cosier for the downtime. Ben also loved how ‘our festival discussion tents have such a particular atmosphere of possibility and informality, and I was curious if we could replicate that in a city. I reckon we pulled it off.’

People get less and less of their news from newspapers these days. There’s something in the gathering together of Sunday Papers Live that replicates the old familiar feeling that a newspaper offers that news feeds don’t. They  encourage people to slow down and focus on one thing at a time, and we delve into issues in depth. ‘I see the event as a part of the growing Slow Movement.’ says Ben. ‘We’re an anti-browse gig.’

I asked Ben who his favourite participant has been. ‘That’s impossible after nearly 4 years of amazing people… Jon Snow was brilliant. Eddie The Eagle had some incredible stories. For our very first event we had the world’s most prolific streaker reminisce about streaking the Superbowl and the Olympics. He was brilliant.’

The Paddlesworth Project ‘aims to grow contemporary rural communities through the provision of time and space for projects with creativity and sustainability at their core. It is a holistic site for learning and reconnecting through arts, culture and the environment where fun and friendship is central.’  How does Pitch Festival align with and represent those aims?

Our first Pitch has been emotional, hilarious, challenging, tearful, unexpected, miraculous… and it hasn’t even started yet. But that’s what it’s literally all about, pitching in. We’re all in this together facing challenging deadlines, situation and circumstances, pushing windows and pulling together. A collaborative project indeed is setting up a festival. Kid slave labour, late night cleaning parties, to portaloo or not to portaloo… these will go down in Paddlesworth Project’s history. But the real deal is, we’re not all that interested in history. It’s the now moment and the forward growth that matter. Pitch will give us all an opportunity to reach out to people with this philosophy to pitch in and continue to grow the reality of creative sustainability with a holistic environmentally aware site specific lifelong art installation and learning centre.

Do you have a particular craft, art form or skill that you are passionate about?

Personally, I’m a bit of an artistic jack of all trades: painter, photographer and musician. My interests are now in presenting choices to the next generation and responsibility teaching sustainability, particularly in relation to food and the land. So I love to build greenhouses and squash arches and make sculptures which change and grown together with plant life. At the Project we have puppet makers, dancers, sculptors, animators illustrators, print makers and plenty of room for more.

How have you seen arts change lives and communities?

My experience is mainly with children and young adults, who all use arts naturally and instinctively to learn, collaborate and satisfy deep needs fluidly and with ease, going with the flow and transcending time. It’s amazing to watch. I know arts can turn around broken communities and families, I know many musicians who’ve worked in prisons with great success, the list goes on. For me, my mission is to facilitate keeping the young growing with arts throughout their development, so they may never lose their way, their personal empowerment or their expression.

The clue is in the name: at Pitch Festival anyone can ‘pitch’ in. Do you have a lot of people both performing and spectating, and so breaking down that divide?

Yes plenty, many people have contacted us to perform, through the call out and we’ welcome them and look forward to providing a platform for everyone to show case their talents, the days of untouchable stars ought to be on their way out it seems to mostly be unhealthy for all concerned and everybody can offer something, we just need our 15 minutes.

Can you give a whistle stop introduction to some of your favourite artists across the stages?

Randolph Matthews is incredible, see him to believe him – a vocal gymnastic and super personable on stage; really really great fun. Momerath are hauntingly beautiful. With Mampama I just close my eyes and get taken away to a warm beach and smile. The Speedball Experience bring super talented high energy dance dance dance and Miss Pink, fresh from blazing reviews at Glastonbury is going to smash it. The great variety we’ve got heading down is SO exciting!

I recommend you get your tickets now and get ready to pitch right in.

John le Carré introduces his new novel, A Legacy of Spies, and iconic Cold War characters whilst author of The Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood reflects on her visionary and dystopian work in the context of the Trump era and the real world it reflects. Along the same theme, Naomi Klein discusses her new book No Is Not Enough which looks at the tactics used to bring Trump into power and what happens next.

Feminism is still a big issue, and Laurie Penny and Rebecca Solnit each present their new essay collections, Bitch Doctrine: Essays for Dissenting Adults, a collection of Penny’s writing which provokes challenging conversations around the definitive social issues of today, and The Mother of All Questions, a piece that aims to open up a feminism for everyone.

The wonderful Zadie Smith reads from her most recent novel Swing Time and discusses writing fiction that responds to our current times, as White Teeth and On Beauty both did.

As part of Africa Utopia Poetry/music duo Gertrude & Jemma lead a performance of experimental and improvised sound exploring the relationship between words, music and silence in What The Trees Know / The Blindfold Session.

London’s award-winning LGBT literary salon, Polari, comes back for its tenth summer at the Southbank Centre, ad later in the year the Poetry Library will host exhibitions dedicated to The Mersey Soung, Joseph Conrad, the implications of Brexit and Indian poets.

There’s also the new exhibition A Fair Field Full of Folk which explores William Langland’s medieval poem Piers Plowman and features a rare opportunity to see an original sixteenth century manuscript of the poem, on loan from the University of London.

It’s all gearing up for the annual London Literature Festival in October, with even more education, entertainment, elucidation and astoundingly excellent literature on offer.

So if there’s anything that can tear you away from your book, it’s this.

Zadie Smith – Dominique Nabokov 2016 Copyright

Foals play their only UK festival appearance, and indie legends Wild Beasts will also be whipping the park into a dark trippy frenzy, and the ubiquitous and brilliant Bonobo mixes things up. If you’ve tried to get tickets to see Laura Marling recently you’ll know that even selling multiple limbs won’t secure them, so the opportunity of seeing her on a (hopefully) sun drenched stage in summer is one not to passed over. Communion welcome to their stage soulful Michael Kiwanuka, Sylvan Esso, rockers Twin Peaks and Nadine Shah, whilst Clash & Last FM turn things up a bit with Vessels, and welcome Ben Howard’s new band A Blaze Of Feather.

You’ll also find Sunday Papers Live, Sofar Sounds and journalism experts The Frontline Club, as well as the Science Museum, FuturePlay and The Indytute offering creative exploration and events. All festivals these days need yoga and swing dancing, and Citadel is no different, bringing on board SwingTrain, Frame and the House of Voga for a dose of wellbeing. There’s also some acoustic sessions, the must see Roller Skating Fiddle Players, a family rave from Big Fish Little Fish, some sports games, theatre – and a ton of street food and craft ales.

All in all, they’ve proved me completely wrong. Nice one.

Buy tickets now.

The creators of FloVibe – Jason Pooley (The House of Yoga) and collaborator Lou Wellby of Jam Sandwich Live – have brought together all the things they love in one place, for a weekend of what they term ‘soul-nourishment.’

Starting from their five values of community, empowerment, connection, play and celebration, they’ve manifested them in a sparkling event that will take place on 2-4th June 2017 at the idyllic Kelmarsh Hall in Northamptonshire.

There’s yoga masterclasses, dance and movement workshops, inspiring talks, storytelling, live music spanning folk, jazz, roots & reggae (including Cristobal & The Sea), incredible DJs, nutritious, delicious wholesome food and treatments in the woods. Rather than exhausting you, this is a weekend of revelry that aims to inspire and restore.

Tickets start at only £75 for the day, and are available here, with weekend and camping options available.

It was then, back in June 2015, that she decided to write a show about online dating. Swipe, now performing at the Camden Fringe festival, is an hour long performance of sketches and vignettes exploring dating in the modern world, and how choice can be paralysing, communication confusing, and the whole experience of finding love very much in flux.

‘All the scenarios derive from real experiences, and it contains a lot of my dating trials and triumphs. It’s a very real play that is swimming in the experiences of so many women.’ she says, but it spans the sexes. The tales are drawn from over one hundred interviews with women around the world, and whilst originally intending to be a cast of men and women, in the writing Alyssa realised  that she ‘only had a voice for women this time.’ This doesn’t stop it resonating with both sexes though. The small theatre was filled equally with men and women, and the nods and laughter came from both.

Corny chat up lines are nothing new of course, but the ease with which someone can disappear when you only know them from through your phone – ‘ghosting’ they call it; the simplicity of sending a dick pic, wanted or not; the disconnect between the persona you portray on and offline; and the temptation of simply moving on with only a swipe are all very much modern dilemmas.

Love’s not easy. New Match Collective have assembled dating horrors and highs through the lens of technology and modernity to create an hour’s entertainment that’s amusing, entertaining and utterly identifiable.

Running 18th -21st August at The Hen & Chickens Theatre, London, as part of The Camden Fringe. Tickets available here.