‘This is as big as Arts Sunday gets’
ARTS SUNDAY has just about reached capacity, according to one of the organisers.
The Guernsey Arts Commission’s eighth annual event drew an estimated 12,000 people to Town on Sunday.
For the first time the GAC teamed up with Guernsey Mind and the School of Popular Music to promote Express Yourself – an initiative that seeks to highlight the positive impact that the arts can have on mental health.
GAC head of arts development Russ Fossey said Arts Seafront Sundays were now the biggest free arts and music festival in Guernsey.
There were five music stages, one for dance and one for theatre, and more than 100 stalls between the Weighbridge and Town Church.
Mr Fossey said the event took three months to arrange but that it could not happen without the dedication of the many volunteers who gave up their time.
‘I think we are probably about as big as we get,’ he said.
‘As long as it’s art or music we don’t say no to anyone, but our challenge is the number of stages we can have.
‘We want one stage to blend into another as people walk along, but we don’t want them competing.’
Performers’ ages ranged from three to 80 and wheelchair dancing was included for the first time.
Mr Fossey said people began setting up at 5.30am and everything was dismantled between 5 and 6pm.
‘The general public treat the seafront with respect and it was pretty clean at the end of the day,’ he said.
‘The day is a celebration of the best of what we have in Guernsey and it’s a big thank you from us to everyone.’
