Preston Guild Hall among venues to host Preston Live Arts Festival

Preston Guild Hall in Lancaster Road Pic: Tony Worrall

Tickets are now on sale for Preston Live Arts Festival, a celebration of arts, culture and homegrown talent in the local area.

The initial line up has been announced for the festival, which will run at venues across the city from 21-30 June.

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Or, for those with an adult sense of humour the second night is the perfect tonic with Preston legend Dan Nightingale leading a hilarious line up of comedians including Adam Rowe, Lauren Pattison and Paul Smith. This event is strictly 18 and over.

A series of Scratch Nights, Lockdown Stories, will celebrate the huge array of homegrown talent the city has to offer as selected artists of Preston share their lockdown stories.

Each performance night at the Charter Theatre will be a tapestry of short inventive pieces, commissioned especially for the festival. Split across three nights and three specialities, dance, drama and spoken word on 22, 23 and 28 June, with each evening a uniquely imaginative celebration of local voices and experiences.

Sunshine in Avenham Park on some of the first days of restrictions easing Pic: Tony Worrall — Sunshine in Avenham Park. Pic: Tony Worrall

Families can look forward to visiting the Family Fest which will be hosted at Avenham Park 26 and 27 June where they can catch up with The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show a theatrical recreation of Eric Carle’s beautifully imaginative stories which features a menagerie of 75 loveable puppets, faithfully adapting four of Eric Carle’s stories, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, 10 Little Rubber Ducks, The Very Lonely Firefly and, of course, the star of the show The Very Hungry Caterpillar who celebrated its 50^th birthday in 2019.

Preston College will present Preston College Dance ‘Unlocked’ an evening of dance at the Guild Hall 25 June, from students who have worked with staff and other students to create exciting pieces over the previous year dancing in their kitchen garages and gardens.

Local theatre company Create Theatre will bring together an evening of musical theatre at the Charter Theatre 29 June celebrating the best of Preston’s talent through the shows of London’s West End in Prest-End!

The concert production will be performed by a cast of local professionals and will also feature the talented students from Create Theatre Academy. Expect a fantastic range of musical moments, with performances from many of the nation’s favourite shows from Jersey Boys to Billy Elliot and Wicked to Les Miserables.

Mayor of Preston Councillor Javed Iqbal said: “We are delighted to announce our initial line-up for Preston Live Arts Festival which combines much-loved, high profile acts with a selection of specially commissioned projects from our local creative community, the response to which has been overwhelming.

“It is brilliant that the city is being able to reopen safely and offer great arts, events and experiences for all the family.”

Councillor Peter Kelly, Cabinet Member for Culture and Arts said: “As Preston comes out of lockdown we are committed to working towards putting our arts and cultural offering firmly back on the map, rebuilding our live performance programme and local audiences.

“We see the Preston Live Arts Festival as a key catalyst for the growth and development of the city whilst also providing our residents and visitors fun and engaging events and activities for the whole family to enjoy.”

You can book tickets at www.preston.live. Limited concessions will be available for Key workers to receive a 10 per cent discount off ticket prices check the website for details.