Festival of Hope Chester
Welcome to our Festival of Hope
Led by Chester Young Producers, Festival of Hope Chester will be a digital festival, spanning two days.
A festival for a young curious mind who is willing to welcome and explore other curious minds.
West Cheshire Museums have been working with two groups of Young Producers, in Chester and Winsford. We want to embed young voices within our organisation and showcase what young people can do.
Emerging from the Grosvenor Museum’s Youth Panel, our Chester Young Producers have focused on creating a festival that will engage other young curious minds, like themselves. This has worked incredibly well alongside our vision as a museum service to inspire our community to discover, explore and enjoy their rich heritage, culture and history.
West Cheshire Museums are a diverse group of museums which include a working watermill and a restored salt production site. Our collections cover a huge slice of Cheshire’s history and tell the stories of the area’s people and places, from prehistoric times to the present day.
All views expressed in the programme reflect the opinions of the individual speakers and not West Cheshire Museums or Cheshire West and Chester Council.
WHAT’S ON IN CHESTER
ENJOY THE SHOW!
The Lay of the Lockdown
Young Producers: Georgia, Caitlin, Harry.
Featuring: Neil Keating
Live on 5th September at 9am
An interactive map exploring all the quirky things purchased during lockdown. Add your strangest purchase to our map of the UK.
An interactive map exploring all the quirky things purchased during lockdown. We’ve heard tell of chickens, baby avocado costumes and even 75m of tinfoil! Add your strangest purchase to our map of the UK.
Want to add your purchase before our map goes live? Email, hopestreetchester@gmail.com, with details of your purchase or tag us on your photos via @cheshirefestivalofhope on Instagram.
Created by Neil Keating in collaboration with Chester Young Producers. Liverpool born Neil Keating is a multi-talented graphic designer, illustrator and street artist working from Static Studios in Liverpool. You can see more of Neil’s work here.
Colour Within the Lines: Living in Lockdown
Young Producers: Caitlin, Georgia, Harry.
Featuring: Kremena Dimitrova
Live on 5th September at 9am
A cartoon creating a window into the lives of young people.
A cartoon creating a window into the lives of young people, who are connected to Chester, either through their family, their school, work or their heritage. Based on real anonymised interviews undertaken by Chester Young Producers.
Created by Kremena Dimitrova in collaboration with Chester Young Producers. Kremena is a London based illustrator specialising in visualising history. Kremena constructs new stories from old, her work marrying words with images in ways that can bring to light, and celebrate histories, which would otherwise remain hidden, overlooked or side-lined.
You can see more of Kremena’s work here.
Creating a Festival: An interview with the Chester Young Producers
Young Producers: Georgia, Caitlin, Harry.
Featuring: Geoff Bird and the Chester Young Producers
Live on 5th September at 9am
Learn about the motivations and aspirations of the Chester Young Producers as they created their Festival of Hope.
Join Chester Young Producers Caitlin, Georgia and Harry as they discuss their motivations and aspirations for their Festival of Hope. They are joined by interviewer Geoff Bird.
Talk by Isobel Dye
Young Producers: Georgia, Caitlin, Harry.
Featuring: Isobel Dye
Live on 5th September at 1pm
Learn more about concepts like white fragility, white privilege and allyship.
Hi, my name is Issie or as I’m more commonly known as on TikTok: ‘Dumbbirchtree’.
I guess we could call this a ‘ted talk’ on what it means to be and how to understand your role as an ally within this political shift known as the Black Lives Matter Movement. If you’re struggling to understand or simply want to know more about concepts like white fragility, white privilege and allyship then this workshop is for you!
I truly wish I had the privilege of labelling myself as an artist but the reality is not as luxurious. To be blunt, I rant about politics to basically anyone who will listen, on the internet. As a young person, and as a woman— it is near on impossible to ignore how important politics has become in these recent months, and I aim to not only understand as much as I can but educate others through my platform.
Starting Your Comic Strip
Young Producers: Georgia, Caitlin, Harry.
Featuring: Kremena Dimitrova
Live on 5th September at 2pm
This workshop offers a step-by-step guide to creating a comic strip, from idea generation to speech bubbles.
This workshop explains what a comic is and what separates it from any other visual media. It also explains why the sequential nature of comics and the way they combine words with images make them so effective at telling stories. The workshop offers a step-by-step guide to creating a comic strip, from idea generation, script writing, and storyboarding to speech bubbles, panels, and gutters.
Kremena Dimitrova is an illustrator and PhD researcher in Visualising History. She specialises in children’s book illustration and comics and creates a lot of work for the heritage sector.
‘Constructing new stories from old, my work marries words with images in ways that can bring to light and celebrate histories which would otherwise remain hidden, overlooked or side-lined.’
Take up space! Empowerment, not apologies.
Young Producers: Georgia, Caitlin, Harry.
Featuring: Professor Emma Rees
Live on 5th September at 3pm
In this talk, Emma Rees encourages you to empower yourself by taking up space.
In this 20-minute talk, Emma Rees encourages you to empower yourself by taking up space. She considers how the idea of occupying space is multifaceted, and how it becomes a political act – especially in an ancient walled city like Chester. When we take up space we take our place in the world around us, and, significantly, in its power structures. Emma asks questions about how space – whether literal, historical, bodily, or linguistic – is there for everyone to inhabit, and encourages you to do so, while all the time making room for others to do the same.
Emma Rees is a Professor at the University of Chester, where she’s also Director of the Institute of Gender Studies. She’s published lots on feminism and gender and is a trustee of local charity Chester Women’s Aid. Likes: cats, books, tattoos; Hates: intolerance, exclusion, snobbery.
Power to the People! Exploring protest songs
Young Producers: Georgia, Caitlin, Harry.
Featuring: Matt Hill
Live on 5th September at 4pm
In this workshop you’ll learn some of the history of protest songs and help you identify what makes an effective protest song.
Throughout history people have used songs as a way to express their views and opinions.
Popular movements for change, from the fight for the vote in the 19th century to the US Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, have used songs to spread their message. In this workshop you’ll learn some of the history of protest songs. Folk singer songwriter Matt Hill will play extracts from some famous songs and some of his own, to help you identify what makes an effective protest song.
Matt Hill is a storytelling singer-songwriter whose songs are both political and personal, often exploring social history. He’s played with Billy Bragg at Glastonbury and had songs on BBC6 Music. As a community artist he’s run songwriting in prisons, been a museum’s resident songwriter and written songs with homeless people.
Virtual Open Mic Night
Young Producers: Georgia, Caitlin, Harry
Featuring: Desree, Skitterwit, Kamran Sajid, Jonny Cosmo, Helena Ascough, André Adams, DJ NikNak
Live on 5th August at 8pm
A open mic night that gives a platform to young people to share their creative talents.
A virtual open mic night that aims to give a platform to young people to share their creative talents. Featuring an abundance of different talents and voices.
Desree – @dezziiee_
Three poems about educational opportunities, being a womxn and BLM.
Desree is a spoken word artist, writer and facilitator exploring intersectionality, justice and social commentary.
Producer for Word Up and Word Of Mouth, finalist in 2018’s Hammer & Tongue national final and TEDx speaker, she has featured at events including Glastonbury Festival 2019, Royal Albert Hall, Bowery Poetry New York.
Skitterwit – @skitterwit
A performance of three original pieces put together in lockdown: ‘Storm Ciara’ written by Izzy; ‘Three Blind Mice’ written by Robin; ‘Shepherd’s Song’ written by Robin.
A young folk trio from Cheshire, Skitterwit play a mixture of songs and tunes of both traditional and self-written origin. The band is Robin Gage on guitar, vocals, flute and concertina, Natalie Turner on fiddle, viola and vocals and Izzy Jones on fiddle, harp and vocals.
Kamran Sajid – @poetrybykamran
Chameleons: an exploration of my British Pakistani identity. I saw similarities between the way that chameleons can change colour and how the experience of diaspora has changed our colours. Many children of diaspora live with the reality of being foreigners wherever they go – and so the pursuit of home becomes a mental, spiritual journey. Perhaps the answers, the guidance and the strength we seek are to be found within us.
I’m a writer primarily, but I also work in film, performance and photography. In my work, I tend to explore themes such as mental health, philosophy and identity. I regularly collaborate with visual artists to create content for magazines, and I’m currently studying for a degree in Art History.
Jonny Cosmo – @cosmoconscriptions
Jonny Cosmo is an aspiring poet and artist from Preston, Lancashire. Politically empathic, emotionally anarchistic and spiritually stressed. His work has been called “poetry and writing that brings out emotions in people and sways people’s views on society. Stripped back, no structure needed, just words and emotions. Each poem is bespoke and meaningful.
Disclaimer: This video does contain some strong language.
Helena Ascough – @helenaascough
A Little Voice Called Hope: The poetry set was partially written during lockdown, the desired response is for the viewer to be inspired and feel a sense of hope for the future. The poetry set is fun, romantic and full of hope. Helena celebrated the everyday and aims to bring joy in a difficult time.
Helena Ascough is a North West based actor, poet and teacher. Helena’s performance work has previously been commissioned by Lancashire Arts, The Harris Museum, Lancashire Fringe and Frontline Dance. Helena works as an actor for Initiate Theatre, Evenrs Live and The Electric Sunshine Project.
André Adams
André is a 14 year old musician from Cheshire. He plays the alto and tenor saxophones and drums, and has recorded and edited his own performances during lockdown. André has been diagnosed with ASD, dyslexia and ADHD, and has created a unique soundtrack called ‘Mouth’ during lockdown using his anxious ticks and sounds. Through this soundtrack, he has also collaborated with Fancy Feet Theatrical Dance to produce a video to raise awareness of autism.
DJ NikNak – @niknakdjmusic
A storyteller in her own right, NikNak is devoted to developing her unique practice as a DJ & Turntablist, sound artist/composer, producer, tutor, sound engineer and radio presenter.
How to Make a Mini Paper You
Young Producers: Georgia, Caitlin, Harry.
Featuring: Laura Sayers
Live on 6th September at 1pm
Join artist and illustrator Laura Sayers as she shows you how to carefully craft a paper version of yourself.
Join artist and illustrator Laura Sayers as she shows you how to carefully craft a paper version of yourself to add to a collaborative installation at the Grosvenor Museum. All you’ll need is some scissors, some glue and any paper you have lying around. We’ll explore what makes us each unique, creating a small piece of art which will form a long chain of paper people to celebrate individuality as the thing that ultimately unites us.
Please send your paper people for our installation to: The Grosvenor Museum, 27 Grosvenor Street, Chester, CH1 2DD.
Laura works from her studio in sunny Glasgow, making her illustrations and highly detailed pieces all using paper, scissors and a lot of patience. She has worked on a whole host of different projects with writers, musicians, paper makers, dancers, animators, and magicians, and now you too!
Hope, Authenticity and Storytelling
Young Producers: Georgia, Caitlin, Harry.
Featuring: Sara Barnard
Live on 6th September at 2pm
Sara Barnard discusses her experiences writing authentic, hopeful stories for teenagers, and what that means in 2020.
Sara Barnard discusses her experiences writing authentic, hopeful stories for teenagers, and what that means in 2020. Trigger Warning: discussions about suicide.
Sara writes contemporary fiction for teenagers. Her books include Beautiful Broken Things, A Quiet Kind of Thunder and Goodbye, Perfect, which won the YA Book Prize in 2019.
Into Film Archive Film & Time Capsule Workshop
Young Producers: Georgia, Caitlin, Harry.
Featuring: Into Film
Live on 6th September at 3pm
Join Into Film for a brief history of film, an exploration of archive film and a Time Capsule activity.
Join Into Film for a brief history of film, an exploration of archive film and an activity where you can bring together your own Time Capsule for 2020. Please send your Time Capsule film submissions to hopestreetchester@gmail.com.
Into Film puts film at the heart of the educational and personal development of children and young people across the UK.
How I Became a Young Activist
Young Producers: Georgia, Caitlin, Harry.
Featuring: Esther Bird
Live on 6th September at 4pm
In her talk, Esther outlines her journey becoming a young activist and shares her tips on how other young people can take action.
Barack Obama once said that ‘change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.’ In her talk, Esther outlines her journey becoming a young activist and shares her tips on how other young people can take action and begin making changes in the areas that matter to them.
Esther Bird is a 14 year old young activist from Macclesfield. For two and a half years, she’s been taking social action to fight against climate change and give young people a voice. She’s an ambassador for Action For Conservation and the #iwill campaign and organises the local school strikes
MEET OUR
YOUNG PRODUCERS
WITH THANKS TO
PARTNERS AND HERITAGE FUND
FIND US
Partners:
Grosvenor Museum,
27 Grosvenor Street,
Chester,
CH1 2DD