Street festival aims to feature more of island’s diverse talent
BROADENING its ability to showcase the island’s diverse art and culture scene is the focus for this year’s Guernsey Street Festival.
In an opportunity for islanders to learn more about the festival, an open event was held at the weekend for prospective artists to meet the team, and even take the mic to audition.
The organising team is hoping to attract new talents, both locally and from off-island, this year.
‘It doesn’t just have to be musicians, we want to celebrate art and culture as a whole,’ said Dave Wheeler, communications officer for the event.
‘There is so much talent, enthusiasm and diversity in Guernsey art and we want to be able to showcase that.’
Festival organisers are keen to see more artists, who can sit and do their thing in public whether that be painting, sculptures, crochet or more.
Mr Wheeler said that personally he would like to see a magician join the festival line-up, who could stop people walking through town and do magic tricks with them, or an artist to do caricatures of members of the public.
The two-week festival showcases artistic talent at eight different performance zones each day during the period, apart from Sundays.
The open day included stalls hosted by local performers, a chance to speak about the event, and to buy festival merchandise.
Egita Streuta, 25, who works in finance, has been singing a capella for a couple of years and wants to take part this summer, so she auditioned yesterday.
‘I’ve done busking before but I’d love to get involved with this,’ she said.
‘It’s the next step for me, and I’m trying to do as much music as possible as it’s my hobby outside of work.’
The festival is also looking for volunteers to help with the event, including taking down and putting up the tents.
. GSF is a charity, and all money raised goes towards supporting the local acts that perform with a fair wage.
Contact information is available via the festival’s Facebook page, or at www.guernseystreetfestival.com.
Festival details
GUERNSEY Street Festival takes place in St Peter Port from Saturday 22 July to Saturday 5 August.
There is an opening ceremony, which includes a parade through Town.
There will be eight performance zones –
Liberation Monument, The Pollet, Smith Street, The Arcade, High Street, Town Church, Market Square and bus terminus
Auditions to take part are being held on Sunday 19 March from 10am to 1pm at The Ladies’ College.
