It’s 5 days until kick off…
… No, not the England game, but London’s finest Camberwell Arts Festival, which this year celebrates its 20th anniversary.
From the 14th June, Camberwell will once again become the urban gallery as artists take their work out of the studio and on to the fair streets of SE5, exhibiting in unusual locations, from bus-stops to billboards, cafes to car parks and pubs to parks. 20 public installations have been commissioned with help from Arts Council England, as well as a bigger better Lucky Dip arts competition.
This year there is even more performing arts, spoken word and live music then ever before: The wonderful Literary Kitchen Festival will take residency at the Peckham Pelican, championing new and emerging talent and acting as a hub to generate writing practices and a sense of community for writers.
St Giles Church will host two evenings of live music, one of which will feature the inimitable Ida Barr hosting The Pop-Up Choir’s 5th birthday on Saturday 14th June with music from Fleetwood Mac, Daft Punk and J‑Lo all washed down with a fully licensed bar. You’d be fools to miss it. (£6 on the door)
The festival also includes an exclusive Edinburgh preview by Nitroglicerina at The Bear along with a wealth of Fringe events which will include workshops by Camberwell UAL, public art installations throughout SE5 and an Open Studio weekend (21/22nd) showcasing the diversity of the local artistic community who hail from studios: Clockwork, Coldharbour, Empress Mews, Warrior, Vanguard as well as artists based at their own homes.
The festival opens this Saturday (14th June) with the ‘Made in Camberwell’ Art Market on Camberwell Green (10–5pm) bringing together some of the best hand crafted products by local artists, designers and creators of ceramics, fine art, photographic prints, textiles, bags and more.
And how do you celebrate a 20th anniversary? With China of course! Camberwell Arts is very proud to have collaborated with local design hero’s, Mini Moderns to release a range of already sought after commemorative mugs, which are on pre-order at Etsy and can be collected from the Arts Market.Don’t be a Mug: They are sure to become collectors items! Purchase a set of these Camberwell Beauties and 100% of the profit is invested back into the festival.
On Sunday 22rd June, once you’ve complete the Open Studio trail, kick back with an afternoon of Comedy in the Sun with an impressive lineup of comedic talent, followed by a trip to see Chutney8 and their annual encampment on Camberwell Green where we celebrate the end of this 20th arts festival with a carnival of the weird and wonderful.
Full programme details are now available at www.camberwellarts.org.uk/festival-2014 and a beautiful printed brochure is available throughout Camberwell. We suggest you grab a copy, and a highlighter pen and start planning how much you can squeeze in!
