Royston Arts Festival returns this year on Friday 20th September and runs until Saturday 5th October.
This year, popular folk due Megson are opening the Festival with a concert in Royston Parish Church, and the Festival ends with the day-long Barkway Literary Festival, featuring author talks and workshops.
Throughout the Festival, enjoy over 50 events for all ages and interests, many of them free, including arts, crafts, events, exhibitions, literature, music, talks, tours and workshops.
A printed copy of the full programme of events has been delivered to you along with your copy of The Listing, and you can also see the full programme at www.creativeroyston.org
Here are some of the highlights this year:
Gala in the Gardens
Creative Royston’s Community event returns to the beautiful Priory Memorial Gardens in the heart of Royston again this year, with artistic performances of all kinds to delight the whole family, including Claudia McKenzie, featured on the programme cover, fun for the children in the Kids Zone, Street Food Heroes offering street food and a bar, Royston Environmental Group hosting Sustain-Ability 2024, and, for the first time, an Arts and Crafts Expo open to local amateur crafters & artists, to enter pieces of work based on this year’s theme: Arts In Motion
Sat 28th Sept, 12 noon-5pm – Priory Memorial Gardens, Royston
Live Music
MusicFest runs over three days this year, in venues throughout the town, plus look out for Royston Rocks, a brand-new open mic acoustic night for local musicians to come and play and for the audience to come and watch at the Old Bull Inn, Royston; Soul Sunday with Acoustic sets by local singers and musicians, and a DJ Set ft. Vinyl Rob & Martin, both at Revolution Records and a, Singers and Players Night at the Plough in Shepreth.
Royston Parish Church will host three live music performances: Folk Duo Megson opening the Festival, Revd Dr Steven Sivyer celebrating 50 years of town twinning between Royston and Großalmerode with an organ recital, and the Celebration Concert featuring music and song performances from Royston Town Band, WomenSIng, and students from King James Academy and Freman College.
Literature
Literary events make a strong appearance this year, with two workshops; one from Royston Writers Circle and another led by local author Graham Palmer. Don’t miss the Local Writers Book Fair where over 20 local writers will be gathering to showcase their books, with book signings, talks and readings covering fiction, non fiction and poetry. And the Barkway Literary Festival closes the Festival on Saturday 5th October with talks, writing workshops and keynote speakers.
Children
Family events abound, from creative workshops at Royston Museum, performing arts events from Stagecoach, crafts and storytime at Royston Library, and art and design competitions from Bow Books and Ladds.
Exhibitions
From the programme cover art and an exhibition from the students at KJAR, through to photography, art, crafts and quilting, there are a whole host of exhibitions to enjoy throughout.
WorkshopsÂ
Flower arranging, glazing, wellbeing, painting, sketching and performance workshops are available.
View the full programme here:
There is something for everyone, so be sure to attend and enjoy the events on offer!
