As well as music on the main stage, and local acts in the Fuse Acoustic Tent, Lichfield Fuse festival has a lot more to offer local arts fans, from Art Exhibitions to workshops.
The festival starts on Friday July 8th, and will begin with three fun packed events in the Workshops and Performance tents. At 7.45 Lichfieldfieldians are invited to Go Ukulele Crazy, where they can have a go at learning the Ukulele, now a very popular instrument among school children and folk bands, after this, there is a sing a long session, hosted by Chris Newcombe and Dave Simcox. They are asking for singers and musicians to join them to perform popular songs. The evening will be completed by local singer Michael Jones who will offer a performance of showtunes and songs from the great American songbook.
The fun continues on Saturday July 9th, with local performers invited to take part in an open mic session in the Acoustic tent from 12.00 until 4.00pm. The Art and Craft tent will be full of the Craft team, making birds, great and small, and welcomes all ages and abilities. There will be amazing light and technology from the Halo Glow Walkabout between 8.00 and 10.30pm, which is a visual smorgasbord of choreographed colour and complex patterns drawn in the air by a world class artist.
From 12.00 and 5.00pm there will be Circus Skills workshop with Dave and Dominic Simcox, and another Ukulele workshop at 1.00pm, but this one is aimed at Children, whilst Dangerous Dave and his sidekick Herbert Lemon will perform their Street Puppet Show at 2.00pm and 4.0pm. At 3.00pm there will be a Sea Shanty Singing session with Lichfied Lighthouse Company, and a Salsa Dance Workshop will invite local dancers to join them at 6.00pm, and the ever popular Silent Disco will return from 7.30pm.
There is also the NLI Environment day, which will be led by the North Lichfield Intiative, offering advice and helpful hints about recycling, energy conservation, gardening, reducing your carbon footprints, wildlife and eco play.
Sunday promises to be a popular day with the performance by Fuse’s ever popular Outreach teams. Journeys and Quests is the end result of work with local groups and schools, and will include 100’s of people involved in the project. Part I runs from 2.30 until 3.15pm and part two will run from 4.00 until 4.15pm.
The ever popular Fuse Arts Fair will run from 12.00 until 5.pm and attendees can learn all about the work of Lichfield and Hatherton Canal Restoration trust, Lichfield Mysteries, Lichfield and District Talking Newspaper, Lichfield RSPB and a number of other local groups. Also in the tent, Timothy Harrington will be reading Charles Dickens, and Colin Ward will be running the Sketch Book Theatre. You can also put your wordsmith’s hat on and add to the Poet Tree, being run by Joanne Woodward and Heather Fowler.
Fuse Festival Spokesman Tim Perks said: ‘Although Music is an important element of the Fuse Festival experience, there is a lot more happening at Fuse this year, from interactive Circus and music events, an Open Mic, and arts and crafts exhibitions, where people can create their own art, or buy a piece made by somebody else. We have the NLI environment day, full of fun and activity for the whole family, and the Fuse Arts Fair where you can learn about the many activities that are happening in Lichfield throughout the year. We look forward to seeing you at Fuse again this year’.
Further information check out web-site www.fuselichfield.org.uk
