Gravity Review 2016

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“I defy anyone to get as much fascinating and enjoyable entertainment as we have enjoyed over the past five days. I will be there in 2018 if I’m still breathing and walking!”

Neill Murray

NEWTON’S YEAR OF WONDERS

Looking back...

Gravity Fields Festival 2016 celebrated Sir Isaac Newton’s ‘Year of Wonders’ when, 350 years earlier, he made incredible scientific advances on gravitational forces, light and calculus from his home at Woolsthorpe Manor – a true annus mirabilis.

South Kesteven District Council’s third festival attracted tens of thousands of visitors and some of the best talent in science and outdoor arts from across the UK - all under the theme of ‘Genius’.

More than half of artists and exhibitors produced new content and Gravity Fields hosted two international touring shows - award winning Ârtica from Spanish company Ponten Pie and Holland’s Skryf the Sandwriter.

The plague drove Newton from his Cambridge studies back to his Lincolnshire birthplace in 1666 where he made some of the world’s most important scientific discoveries of all time. Thanks to local festival performers, the dreaded Black Death reached

Woolsthorpe... at least in artistic form.

Many events were sell-outs and Saturday night’s ‘Ingenious’ outdoor arts finale drew an estimated 20,000 people to a transformed Grantham town centre,where students and schools performed alongside professionals.

The festival was again organised and part-funded by South Kesteven District Council with Festival Curator Rosemary Richards and colleagues from Rosa Productions Dr Harry Cliff (Co-Curator Science) and Jeremy James (Outdoor Arts Creative Producer).

Additional funding was kindly provided by Arts Council England and the Institute of Physics, with support from partners, including the National Trust and The Royal Society and local sponsors Viking Signs, Downtown, Listers, JMP Solicitors, Chatterton’s, Hood Parkes & Co and Khaos Control.

Patrons to the fore...

Professor Valerie Gibson

Professor Rob Iliffe

Dallas Campbell

Head of High Energy Physics at the University of Cambridge, Professor Gibson co-hosted co-hosted the Cavendish Laboratory Dinner and presented ‘Newton’s Science’ - her view of his top 10 scientific discoveries.

Leading Newton historian and head of the internationally acclaimed Newton Project, Professor Iliffe delved into the social, political and artistic background to 1666 and presented ‘Science in a Time of War’ about how Newton and Samuel Pepys benefitted from years of continuous strife.

Writer, TV presenter and Gravity Fields patron Dallas Campbell hosted a popular Friday night chat show with Dr Hugh Hunt, Professor Gibson, Simon Watt (Ugly Animal Roadshow), Dr Harry Cliff and Tom Adams (Apollo 11 Campervan).

“Our Gravity Fields Festival is head and shoulders above any other arts and science festival in the UK, particularly because it involves so much of the community. It proves that learning can be fun and has the potential to start fantastic career paths.” Professor Valerie Gibson

Economic benefit to Grantham

Audience figures topped

Attendance on Saturday night

Number of visitors staying overnight

£724,274

68,000

20,000

2,108

Percentage of audience on their first visit to a major cultural event

5%

Ârtica - Ponten Pie

Highlights EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES Gravity Fields Festival has, since 2012, grown an appreciative audience through its production of quality programmes which successfully and compellingly blend science, arts, heritage, the spoken word and amazing outdoor theatre.

Dr Michael Mosley TV presenter and author Dr Michael Mosley drew a packed house with his talk on ‘How to Become a Genius’.

Ingenious Night Out

The Cavendish Laboratory Dinner Re-creation of one of Cambridge’s legendary gatherings for guests at The Angel and Royal Hotel.

Our Ingenious Night Out produced an amazing Saturday evening transformation of Grantham, delighting the huge audience with colour and spectacle from St Wulfram’s Church, with its Pleasure Garden Experiment, through the town centre and onto St Peter’s Green.

Professor Marcus du Sautoy Marcus delved into his new book ‘What We Cannot Know’ to examine whether there are things that might forever transcend our understanding.

“Our experience at Gravity Fields was absolutely fantastic … everything was excellent.” Ârtica - Ponten Pie

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Stephen Ramsay

Highlights

Professor Brian Foster and Jack Liebeck Brilliant music demonstrating Einstein’s love of the violin.

Richard Barley

The Royal Society

The Director of Horticulture at Kew Gardens related Sir Joseph Banks’ travels with Captain Cook on HMS Endeavour.

Stephen Ramsay “This was a unique opportunity for us to develop as makers and engage community participants - something we’ve not done before” Pangottic, circus innovators for Ingenious Night Out.

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A series of talks from science authors at our new Woolsthorpe events marquee included a debate by women scientists.

One of the last scientific glassblowers still working in the UK demonstrated his craft and skills to intrigued audiences.

Punk Science from the Science Museum

Ârtica

Award-winning comedians produced a unique and delightful hybrid of science and comedy to put the fun into fundamental physics.

A lonely wooden hut in a field near St Wulfram’s was an unlikely venue for thought-provoking ‘threads’ to warm the heart.

CERN Update Dr Harry Cliff delivered an intriguing CERN Update, with news from the Large Hadron Collider.

The Bright Club An evening of laughter and discovery with comedy turns from festival science speakers - from microbiology to ancient history.

Highlights Indoor Arts and Education During Gravity Fields, the festival transforms Grantham and surrounding venues into a platform to inform, educate and inspire all ages.

... younger audiences getting involved

Science activity days in town and at Woolsthorpe Manor combined with The Ministry of Science at the Meres Leisure Centre to attract more than 3000 children from 35 schools - enjoying the educational and fun side of science with some explosive results!

Chantry Dance Grantham’s professional dance company entertained a packed Guildhall Arts Centre with its ‘Ulysses Unbound’ and ‘The Stacked Deck’.

The Scientific Secrets of Doctor Who TV secrets from co-authors Dr Marek Kukula and Simon Guerrier.

The Old Dogg at the Mint The Grantham Dramatic Society staged its world premiere, reflecting Newton’s time as Master of the Royal Mint.

Exploring the Molecular Machines Dr Danilo Roccitano returned to the plot of 1966 SciFi movie Fantastic Voyage – and exploring the human body with a cell sized submarine.

Bubbles and Balloons Science Made Simple made great fun for smaller people.

The George Science Fair proved a hit with schools on the Friday and a smash hit with families and all ages on the Saturday. * 15 local schools took part in the LED Participation Project * Saturday night’s parade involved more than 500 children with around 100 individuals from five community groups

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Ingenious Night Out “The Experimental Pleasure Garden at St Wulfram’s was exquisite.”

Professor Valerie Gibson. Festival Patron

“It was an excellent experience which really boosted the students’ confidence and broadened thier horizons in terms of what they may want to do in the future.”

Staff member Grantham College

“The chance to sync pyros with flames was a must. And to have a responsive, large audience was a great reward” Helios, External Combustion

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A dark night lit up by glittering entertainment from some of the country’s leading arts companies sent the crowds home glowing... our Ingenious Night Out had it all. For one night Grantham became a stage to host unforgettable spectacle with great community participation and some extraordinary events.

The intriguing Pleasure Garden Experiment at St Wulfram’s Church was an installation and performance harking back to the 17th century Pleasure Gardens, with a hint of apothecary lab, fire-working and experimentation. A circus environment was created by Cirque Bijou and Rosa Productions and Grantham College students.

In the Market Place the newly commissioned Industriosity marked the ingenuity of machines with a giant Heath Robinson contraption - ‘the greatest machine never to be invented in the Industrial Revolution’ - presented by circus innovators PanGottic and Grantham College students.

sonically impressive, the External Combustion worked with Cirque Bijou performers to bring to life a final Acrojou’s Frantic delighted audiences fire moment - a fitting prelude to a stunning fireworks finale. with a wonderfully masterful performance of acrobatics and a German wheel with a very wet finale! Technology came to the fore in the LED Umbrella Project as Cirque Bijou presented 100 choreographed Outside the Guildhall, Helios, from dancers and 100 LED lit umbrellas to External Combustion, used gas stunning effect. Rarely can simple flame to pulse with the sound of the umbrellas have created such a sun – directly correlated to original NASA data. Visually, physically and magical impression.

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Woolsthorpe Manor

Newton’s home for his greatest scientific discoveries, hosted a marquee with talks on Galileo, spies, rainbows, wartime engineering and even nanotechnology.

life - with coughing and spluttering wretches with grisly bubos and a Quack doctor!

engineer and historian Dr Hugh Hunt recounted Colditz prisoners and Hitler’s V3 supergun.

Talks included:

Recognising that the plague drove Newton back from Cambridge, the festival ensured the Black Death played a role! Devising a new show from a concept originally presented at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich and Lewisham Young People’s Theatre worked with local performers to bring the plague to

Half Life: Author Professor Frank Close on whether Bruno Pontecorvo was physicist or spy.

And talks from The Royal Society included:

From Newton’s Light to Electromagnetic Waves; Professor Andrei Zvelindovsky from the University of Lincoln.

Genius Ideas of WW2: Cambridge

Dr David Adam drew on 30 years as an OCD sufferer to examine compulsions in The Man Who Couldn’t Stop.

Who doesn’t love a rainbow? Dr David Fairhurst looked at the science behind them in The Awesome Truth About Rainbows.

Partnering with the Royal Society The Royal Society, the oldest national scientific society in the world, was a key partner of Gravity Fields Festival, and kindly provided a range of speakers. and fielded a range of speakers. Leading the way, current Society President Sir Venki Ramakrishnan examined a global health problem in ‘Antibiotics and the Cell’s Protein Factory’.

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As a melodic festival foretaste, St Wulfram’s Church led the way into Gravity Feilds Festival with national radio coverage on BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Worship on 18 September.

The service was broadcast live with the title ‘Thou art a sun without a sphere’ as part of Gravity Fields.

Newton’s period of extraordinary discovery and invention was reflected in the first hymn from a contemporary – John Mason: ‘How shall I sing that Majesty which angels do admire?’

Suspended from a frame, critically acclaimed aerial theatre company Ockham’s Razor performed a fantastic triple bill including three dynamic and touching pieces.

Inventive, high–spirited and with a rule breaking interpretation of the baroque music of the 17th and 18th centuries belted out from Red Priest.

Ockham’s Razor

Red Priest

It was also the venue for the official opening reception, with patrons helping to give a flavour of what was to come.

As part of the Ingenious Night Out, The Pleasure Garden Experiment played a major role in making Saturday evening’s entertainment unforgettable, with exhibitions inside the churchyard as never seen before - or since!

Pleasure Garden Experiment

St Wulfram’s Church

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...more special moments What do a safari supper, an owl-loving vet, punk scientists and nerdy science comedians possibly have in common? They were all part of our amazing and entertaining Gravity Fields Festival.

Punk Science Award winning comedians produced a delightful hybrid of science and comedy

Speaking Tubes Sculptural sound, vortex rings at supersonic speed and a specially commissioned soundtrack from international performers IOU.

Living with Wildlife Dr Sasha Norris, TV zoologist and conservationist, brought wildlife sanctuary creatures for her talks.

PLUS: Exhibitions: Gravity Fields Festival started early with Joanna White taking to the air above Woolsthorpe in her microlight aircraft to explore Newton’s ideas of the ether. Her Project Sky Tube findings (above) was just one of the immersive exhibitions, installations and events.

Science Extravaganza Priory Ruskin School hosted a twoday preview.

Ugly Animal Roadshow More animal intrigue came with Natural Flight, with Dr Richard Bomfrey examining how birds conquer gravity and Simon Watt with his Ugly Animal Roadshow.

Moveable Feast

Solargraph Exhibition

The Civic Society again served up a wonderful feast with a mystery tour of Grantham’s restaurants.

... and magical images from Kelly Barfoot using solargraphy showed familiar places in a completely new light.

Anti Grav Box Stepping into a room like no other and getting turned on your head proved irresistible!

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Media attention Gravity Fields receives great coverage on regional television, radio and national print media.

Its mix of the intriguing, the visual and sheer fun - all in the name of the world’s greatest scientist proved a compelling draw, helped by some familiar faces at the festival.

We attracted print coverage in

Television coverage

Radio coverage

Social media... #Grantham was trending locally on Twitter during the festival on Saturday/Sunday, with some key followers!

visit lincolnshire

itv news The Royal Society

Woodland Trust

Simon Singh BBC Look North Marcus Du Sautoy BBC Radio Lincolnshire University of Lincoln Dallas Campbell Royal Society of Chemistry

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Ingenious Night Out

...so on to more Newton celebrations

“A massive thank-you to everyone who made it all possible. We had a brilliant weekend. Can’t wait for the next one.”

Kate Mason

@stormynormB “@Gravityfields Thank you so much for the festival, (geek fest) as called by my daughter:) I’ve managed 6 events and loved every moment.”

Join a voyage of discovery at the next Gravity Fields Festival 26 - 30 September 2018

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www.gravityfields.co.uk