Bloomsbury Festival 2020 - Festival Report

2020: VISION A world-class festival from a local community

FESTIVAL REPORT

It’s been quite a year. At one stage we wondered what would become of our festival. But I’m happy to report that Bloomsbury Festival has not only survived in 2020; it has thrived. I’m proud to say that our team embraced a whole new direction in the ways we engage audiences, while retaining the essence and spirit of what we do. We have used new means of showcasing work from a huge diversity of partners, without ever forgetting the local flavour of what we do, and the appeal of many outstanding venues. We adapted to circumstances, used film, radio and digital media and presented work outdoors as well as in gallery spaces. Of course we are delighted with the responses we got from the artists, performers, technicians and academics that worked with us. But this year, maybe the sweetest thing of all was the reaction of our audiences. People need culture, community and meaning more than ever. And those are the very things we stand for.

Maurice Biriotti - Chair, Bloomsbury Festival

BLOOMSBURY AND THE FESTIVAL Bloomsbury Festival has grown and evolved over 15 years into a 10 day annual celebration of culture, arts and learning rooted in the Bloomsbury area of central London (including both the Bloomsbury and King’s Cross local council wards), and smaller scale creative activities through the year.

2020 PANDEMIC As we started detailed planning for the October 2020 festival the pandemic lockdown hit. In consultation with our numerous partners we felt it vital to continue with the festival, and decided to focus on presenting a flexible programme of events, where digital would mix with live events and outdoor exhibitions and activity. This enabled us to continue to present a diverse, entertaining and creative programme for our audience, partners and Bloomsbury.

We embarked on 3 special projects to reach the local community in near lockdown conditions:

FESTIVAL IN A BOX

Supported by the SHM foundation and St Andrew’s Holborn Trust 2,000 festival boxes delivered to local communities and estates, with 3 bespoke music performances for older groups.

“I just wanted to thank you both and your team for such an incredible and very enjoyable concert yesterday! It was just superb and our members enjoyed it so very, very much - it was a total and unadulterated success!” Marchmont Community Centre

OUTDOOR GALLERIES Supported by Camden Alive

Three outdoor exhibitions commissioned.

“The exhibitions around Brunswick Square Gardens were lovely - it was a great thing to add to the area and it was amazing how many people came over to us saying they recognised people or had some connection to it”.

BLOOMSBURY RADIO

Presented by the Bloomsbury Institute 10 days of Festival coverage on Bloomsbury Radio, resulting in great feedback from audiences, artists and participants.

“Loved tuning in to Bloomsbury Radio in a Bloomsbury cafe to capture the atmosphere”.

2020:VISION Our theme for this year’s festival was 2020: Vision. Across the programme we looked at different interpretations of the theme including future vision, eyesight, seeing local communities and new creative work.

Our greatest success in 2020 is that, despite the pandemic, we were able to offer a substantial festival programme including performances, talks, concerts, exhibitions and creative engagement projects.

Events took place both outdoors and indoors, some with small live audiences but with many filmed and streamed for a digital audience.

“Congratulations on pulling of the Festival this year despite all current adversities. I hope more will be available online in future years, as this helps draw a larger audience and is more accessible”.

Visual Illusions: Professor Andrew Stockman

2020 FESTIVAL FACTS & FIGURES The festival took place from 16-25 October 2020 and included: • 10 Days

• 600 participants in live and digital events

• 20 Bloomsbury venues

• 5,891 People on the mailing list

• 32,000 audience of which 3,500 were for digital events and 15,000 for radio

• 11,106 Social media followers

• 111 live events and exhibitions • 70 digital events and digital exhibitions • 2000 distribution for Festival in a Box • 6 new creative commissions and 20 new digital commissions • 105 local partners and artists presenting and hosting events

• 86,699 unique website visits during 2020 • 21,200 unique website visits in October • Audience joined digital events from Bloomsbury, London and across the globe • A focus on access and inclusivity including sign and caption interpretation of some events, and inclusion of LGBTQQIA+ and visually impaired professional performers

“It inspired me to feel more optimistic about how people are still creating art and work”.

DIGITAL AND LIVE HYBRID We worked with an experienced professional film and digital team and offered opportunities to interns and trainees to work alongside the professional crews. We also worked with our partner venues own film and webstreaming crews.

“The digital launch was very emotional and made me so glad I live in Bloomsbury. Many congratulations for pulling this off”.

“The standard achieved matched that of BBC/Sky Arts”.

“This has opened my eyes to accessing stuff digitally”.

NEW COMMISSIONS AND PERFORMANCES Opinion Pole – YARA + DAVINA Mural at KCBNA – Mohammed Ali Once Upon a Time in Kings Cross - Catherine Packard Absence – Luke Allen 26 Writers in Residence – bloomsburyfestival.org.uk Annual Art Prize – Claire Anne Abi Ola We also commissioned and encouraged around 20 new films and digital content for our hubs and festival week including 3 new videos from Professor Andrew Stockman of the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology which were displayed as one film on a big screen at the Building Centre during the festival week.

“The optical illusion film looks brilliant! It’s totally mesmerising - I had to tear myself away.” Vanessa Norwood, Creative Director, Building Centre

PARTNER EVENTS “It was exciting to see some live theatre again after a long break and the filming worked better than I had expected it would”.

“We very much admire the aims of the Bloomsbury Festival and felt that the these mirrored our own and as a new Camden based organisation we wanted to connect with the Festival and reach a Bloomsbury based audience”.

We presented in live and digital formats: 19 outdoor events and exhibitions including Opinion Pole, outdoor exhibitions, Atelier Tammam Sustainable Couture Roving Fashion Show and 12 outdoor guided walks, 19 art exhibitions – many live, some digital 10 new theatrical and performance events - with film and digital coverage all of which were newly created performances 7 New Wave performance events in association with RADA - created by current and recent MA students 6 newly conceived digital only events with academics and 3 digital guided tours.

54 digital films and videos including 2 new creative films, 8 new concert recordings, 17 new digital performance recordings and 20 new videos created by academics for our digital hubs.

“I love the ambition of the festival to celebrate and explore all facets of the history, social and cultural life of Bloomsbury”.

“I think the level of commitment, perseverance and dedication demonstrated by the entire team at Bloomsbury Festival is outstanding”.

Photographs throughout by Stuart Keegan

PRINCIPAL SPONSORS

MAJOR SPONSORS

FESTIVAL SPONSORS

BUSINESS SUPPORTERS Chestertons Nourish London

Ecole Jeannine Manuel UK Mishcon de Reya

FUNDERS

MAJOR PARTNERS

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