Festival - What Festival?

When I read in The Stage that the Strike-A-Light team had received an ACE grant for the first time, I was understandably excited. I may not have lived there for 20 years but I’ve visited Gloucester regularly and noticed the major decay that has set in. Gloucester has a rich and diverse history but it’s a city that finds it difficult to celebrate that history. There is racial and social friction, a major drug and alcohol problem and high rate of unemployment. OK, that probably describes many towns in the UK that are suffering in the wake of recent financial crises. The sound of seagulls in Gloucester always used to remind me of the seaside.  Now it’s the boarded-up shops and the empty parades that give the impression of a costal town, down-at-heel and in desperate need of some TLC.

Of course, there is a positive side. Gloucester has a rich sports heritage and an enviable network of sports facilities and venues. What it lacks, and has done for a long time, is an arts venue. A space where the community can congregate and celebrate the rich cultural diversity of the city and its history. When I lived in Gloucester in through the 1970s and 1980s, I saw how the arts developed in the city first hand. The closure of the major sports hall and stage at the local leisure centre marked the end of major concerts - anything from Lenny Henry to Siouxsie and the Banshees used to play here. The council converted the old guildhall in the centre of town into a burgeoning arts hub, while local am-dram group the GODS stepped up their game, renovating a bingo hall into the mid-scale Olympus Theatre at 450 seats. The more modest King’s Theatre of about 150 seats, was also renovated and operated by a collective of small-scale amateur companies.

Over the next twenty years things changed dramatically. The Olympus has long since closed - sadly a business cannot run on love. The money raised by loyal volunteers over the years was squandered on vanity projects and bad management. The King’s is still running, operated by a cabal of middle-class, middle-aged amateurs determined to keep it a closed shop. The Guildhall, once a major hope for the city's arts scene has been stripped of any charm and energy it may have once had.  The handsome stone edifice is now more reminiscent of a mausoleum, with nothing on the outside indicating the potential of the interior.

There have been noble attempts to rally the local arts community but the people who hold the purse strings to any funding are, perhaps understandably, keeping them tightly closed. Strike-A-Light's NPO status came at just the right time. I watched from afar, to see how things progressed and plotted to attend the opening of the festival. They appeared to be engaging with the community and encouraging experimentation with form in theatre, dance and music. Great stuff!

Before the launch I thought I’d pop down and see some friends in an amateur pantomime in Gloucester at Christmas in the Guildhall. What was very obvious was the Guildhall’s inability to market live entertainment at its venue. I said as much at the time on social media and the Strike-A-Light team assured me that things would be very different for its week-long festival in March.

So off I went to Gloucester in March. Well it seems as if I was the only person who knew that the festival was happening. The Guildhall as I passed it, was the same dead space as it had been at Christmas. Nothing outside to engage passers-by or to even indicate that ACE was helping fund a week-long event. No bunting; no flyering; no street theatre; nada.  In fact, there was one poster, outside the Tourist Information Centre and inside there, 4 sets of flyers to indicate the professional gigs that were taking place. There was nothing outside the Blackfriars complex either, where tonight’s gala was about to happen.

Strike-A-Light are committed to engaging with the Gloucester community, programming 2 festivals a year; delivering  a year round Artist Support Programme that provides nationally significant partners for emerging artists and developing a year round Arts Participation Programme for children and young people led by professionals.

There was absolutely nothing to indicate that Gloucester was having any sort of festival. What you have here is a huge marketing failure and I can't help wondering where the support from Gloucester Council, Gloucester Marketing, Gloucester Guildhall or indeed the new Gloucester Culture team was. It certainly didn't appear to be in the promotion of this event and yet, judging by the guest list, representatives from each were all present at the gala launch.