Papa Noel and Eliza Carthy are confirmed in an outstanding Ashford line up!

Shiva Nova will once again bring an outstanding line up of leading international musicians, dancers and storytellers to venues in Ashford this autumn. The World Series is supported by Ashford Borough Council and the Arts Council England.  To book tickets, phone the Ashford Tourist Information Centre on 01233 629165

12 & 13 September - 7.30pm: Salome - A dark, tense drama, 'Salome' is about how far we will go to get what we desire.  Ashford Youth Theatre's modern interpretation, and Shiva Nova's live music with Indian drumming, promises to be an exciting, powerful and visceral experience. 

Ashford Youth Theatre, Dover Place, Ashford, Kent TN23 1HU.

18 October- 7.30pm: Papa Noel & Adan Pedroso - Master guitarist from the Congo and Cuba.  Papa Noel, the great Congolese rumba guitarist together with Cuban Adan Pedroso, provide an evening of roots music in this awe inspiring venue. 

St Mary's Church, The Churchyard, Ashford, Kent TN23 1QG.

14 November - 8.00pm: Eliza Carthy - Acclaimed English folk singer.  Eliza has performed and recorded with a diverse array of artists from Paul Weller to Joan Baez.  A truly inventive and innovative singer and fiddle-player, she is the most impressive and engaging performer of a generation.  In collaboration with the Tenterden Folk Festival. 

Norton Knatchbull School Hall, Hythe Road, Ashford, Kent TN24 0QJ

13 December - 7.30pm: Orchestra Cache' Salsa Band - An evening of pure, red-hot salsa!  Start the festive season with a high-energy Salsa evening.  Their passion for the music brings a vibrant spark to all the rhythms that make up salsa.  Cache' is lead by Cuban singer Felix Gonzalez, a born entertainer. 

Brake Hall, Ashford School, East Hill, Ashford, Kent TN24 8PB

Visit the Shiva Nova website

Ashford Visual Arts + Architecture Festival, September 2008

A strong programme of arts events have been put together by Ashford Borough Council to celebrate the strength of the visual arts in the borough. 'Moving in, Moving on', will be the theme of this years event.  The full festival listings are available from the Events Calendar and brochures available from the Tourist Information Centre on 27th August 2008.

For additional information please contact festival organiser Chris Dixon on 01233 330352

New Sculpture Trail Opens in Ashford

Ashford's reputation for sculpture trails in forests and woodlands is renowned across the world, so why not have another one!  Loose Dogs and Loose Artists, will be opening their new sculpture trail in Marchwood, Ashford on Saturday 16th August 2008, 2pm to 9pm

The event, set within 100 acre woodland in Great Chart, Ashford is part of a 5 year development of a new trail from 2008-2012.  You will find 18 artworks produced by 8 artists, including 3 works in progress, designed to encourage public participation.  Other events and performances will take place on this day along with a BBQ and over night camping available.

For more information, please contact Jolanta Jagiello on 0795 777 4791 or e-mail j.jagiello@mdx.ac.uk

UK Body Painting Festival 2008

Ashford is to once again host the UK Body Painting Festival this Summer at the Farriers Arms, Mersham, where there are categories open for professional, amateur and novice artists.  This two day event begins at 10am on Saturday 30 August and closes at 6pm on Sunday 31 August, and includes workshops, tombola and a bouncy castle.

Visit the UK Body Painting Festival Website

First guests announced for the Tenterden Folk Festival

October 2008 will see the 16th Tenterden Folk festival fill the town with traditional English folk song, music and dance as well as the popular craft fair, music fayre and street stalls.

Plans for the Festival are progressing well with funding and support having been confirmed by Tenterden Town Council, Ashford Borough Council and Kent County Council through the Members Grant scheme.  Many venues have also been confirmed and we are now planning the individual events which will take place around the town centre, in the pubs, the Tenterden Club, the Assembly Rooms, the Kent and East Sussex Railway and other suitable halls.

One of the highlights of this year’s Festival is likely to be the special Sunday afternoon concert in The Tenterden Club which will feature two groups of popular young folk musicians 'The Askew Sisters' and 'Mawkin'.  Both these groups should have wide appeal, not only to regular festival visitors but also to new audiences of all ages. 

Visit the Tenterden Folk Festival Website

Ashford Public Art Piece a three times winner!

Stour Valley Arts’ recent commission in King’s Wood, has won yet another award. Jem Finer’s Score for a Hole in the Ground was awarded British Composer of the Year Award for New Media at the British Academy for Musicians and Songwriters reception last night. This is the third award for Score for a Hole in the Ground.

In 2005, Score for a Hole in the Ground was also the recipient of the PRS Foundation’s first New Music Award, the most financially significant award for music in the UK. Supported by Arts Council England and Stour Valley Arts, Jem was awarded £15,000 through Grants for the arts for the creation and presentation of his post-digital work that relies purely on gravity and water to generate music.

Following its installation in King’s Wood, Score for a Hole in the Ground received the Rouse Kent Public Art Award in May this year. When presenting the £10,000 award art critic Richard Cork said ‘The work has extraordinary presence, you approach it through a beautiful wood and suddenly you see an extraordinary shape rising from the ground, looking like a giant gramophone horn. It is almost as if the wood has discovered its own voice and is playing its own music. It has a slightly surrealist feeling and is not what you expect to come across in an English wood, but it has wide appeal as everyone can grasp it at their own level.’

Inspired by suikinkutsu, water chimes found in the temple gardens of Japan, Score for a Hole in the Ground uses tuned percussive instruments, played by falling water, to create music. A root-like system of ducts collects and amplifies the sounds, via a steel horn rising 7m above ground level. Finer describes his project as, ‘both music and an integrated part of the landscape and the forces that operate on it and in it’.

The creation of the work included the building of a dew pond and the excavation and construction of a 7m deep acoustic chamber. The use of the cylindrical chamber enables Finer to achieve the exact acoustic properties he requires. Aesthetically, the colour and organic form of the corten steel horn harmonise with the beech trees of the forest.

Score for a Hole in the Ground can be seen and heard in King’s Wood, Challock, Kent, which is free and open to the public at all times.

Visit the Stour Valley Arts website