FILM: This is not about politics but policy
THREE DAYS IN EDEN
FRI 29TH : KIRPA’S DAY (KID’S DAY) : a day for all our young people, who like this inspiring young woman aim higher than high in life. She dreamed of singing at a festival. WE hope we helped make Kirpa’s Day?
SAT 30TH : LEANNE’S DAY (MUM’S DAY) : to inspire mums and dads across the country, like this mum from the Seacroft Estate in Leeds whose boys wanted a crane so she made them one with an electric drill.
SUN 31ST :PETE’S DAY (GRANDAD’S DAY) : it takes a whole village and grandads everywhere will hopefully be inspired by the way he is teaching his three grandsons to code on the #RocketKidsClub he is building with us
LITTLE BIG LUNCH - Sunday afternoon saw us invite everyone to go outside and eat their lunch where they usually stand on a Thursday night to #ClapForOurCarers. We had the perfect sound track lined up for that too!
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE EDEN WEEKEND
Over 40 artists, with ten themes across three days in the most amazing venue, we have just had the best weekend.
We’re busily editing it all together and deleting the naughty bits and reposting to YouTube but here are a few highlights to binge on for now.
Please note that some of these clips link to Twitter/Periscope and some pay in YouTube but due to copyright they may not all play in a smartphone browser, requiring the YouTube app
FRIDAY 29th MAY : KIRPA’S DAY (KIDS DAY)
A day inspired by the Aspiration of a young woman from Leeds, who dreamed of singing at a Festival
KIRPA’S BIG MOMENT
The film above shows the stream of Friday evening, linking here to the moment when Kirpa Suwali, a blind singer in a wheelchair took to the stage to make her life dream come true, to sing at a festival.
We put a call out to Ed Sheeran to Skype in with his thoughts but didn’t hear back. Next time maybe.
GRANDAD WHEELS ON ART
A large part of the inclusivity at the Festival weekend was inspired and co-curated by Grandad Wheels.
A MISSION TO MARS
As Elon Musk prepared to launch his own rocket, we went on a trip to Mars with our Festival friends at Now Press Play
A SWEET END TO THE DAY
Young soul jazz singer Sans Soucis gave a beautiful performance of her own songs to end our first day
SAT 30TH May : LEANNE’S DAY (MUM’S DAY)
blast off
An inspirational mum from the Seacroft Estate in Leeds and her boys watch the launch of Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket while Nick makes a dynamite rocket that he launches just after.
COVENTRY’S CULTURE
Chenine Bhathena talks us through some of the exciting plans for Coventry City of Culture 2021 and her role in putting that community’s artistic program, rich heritage, and activism in the spotlight.
BERIMBAU MOVES
Two talented and engaging capoeiristas take us from Brazil to Liverpool, inspiring us to bust a dance and song. Best done barefoot…
BE RADICAL
From Banksy to Bob and Roberta Smith, hold tight as Arts Educator Anne-Louise Quinton leads this Art Activism workshop
FUNK GUITAR SHOWMAN
Brand New Heavies legend Simon Bartholomew lets us into his private music library for an afternoon of funky licks complete with disco lights!
A LEGEND TALKS AND TAKES THE STAGE
Given our punk theme for the weekend it was great to be joined by ex-Sex Pistols band member Glen Matlock but off the scale when he picked up his guitar to play some new material.
SUN 31ST MaY : PETE’S DAY (GRANDAD’S DAY)
A day inspired by a Grandad, a Punk 1.0 who is teaching his 3 grandsons to code
ALL HAIL PUNK 2.0
We had a fantastic chat about life, the universe and everything with Jah Wobble, former member of Public Image Limited with old mate and ex Sex Pistol John Lydon, now of Jah Wobble & The Invaders Of The Heart. It was great to be able to get Grandad Pete on for a chat too before his tea.
DON’T MENTION CUMMINGS
We tried but it was hard to talk about creativity with The Observer’s political cartoonist,Chris Riddell, without mentioning politics and every time we did he drew it.
SKYLARKIN WITH DJ DEREK
What better way to kick back for our #LittleBigLunch than to the sweet ska and revitalising reggae sounds of DJ Derek, spun here for us by DJ Count SkyLarkin
A CO-DRUM CIRCLE
Just look at all the smiles on the faces of the 500 or so people who joined Tom Morley in Zoom for the afternoon, to drum and make music together - a joyous sight
COOKING UP A STORM
We were blown away when top chef Rosemary Schrager offered to join, us but knew it would only end in tears when she suggested bringing La Voix with her
CLASSICAL CHILL
We started winding down from a weekend of our lives with a series of improv classical, violin and piano pieces by Noel Vine and Andrew Quartermain
KERNOW CALLING
After a wonderful performance at our #ARTofBUDE Pop-Up it was lovely to be able to welcome local musician Richard Ash back to the stage at Eden
LOUNGING ABOUT
At the very last minute we managed to connect with The Logues, a young two piece band from County Tyrone who payed the festival out on guitar and penny whistle and provided the perfect conclusion to a theme of Punk being reborn that ran through the weekend, inspired by an Irish man from south of the border whose song Rat Trap was as relevant then as it is now, as Nick points out here.
TEN THEMES
The weekend will break out across ten key theme areas:
CREATIVITY - talks and activities to remind us what it looks and feels like and why it’s important
COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS - sessions inspired by the Community Activity Camps run at Eden Project
WHAT’S YOUR ART? Download our template, join our global campaign, print it on a t-shirt here
ART ACTIVISM - tips and tricks in talks and workshops on how you can change the world
ECO AWARENESS - where better than Eden Project to reconnect our planet and how we might start doing things differently
SLOW FOOD - we’ve never had more time, and possibly less money, so why don’t we look at food again?
MAKER CULTURE - there’s a lot of talk about the ‘Three R’s’, but the fourth R is Wroughting - making. Let’s Create
COLLABORATIVE MUSIC - Live Aid was yesterday with the band on the stage. Now the audience makes music
EDUCATION - Is Creativity as Important as Literacy? Are we teaching it out of our kids? How’s your home schooling?
SONG OF THE DAY - we have an anthem for each Day - ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’, ‘I Will Survive’ and ‘All Together Now’
BEER FESTIVAL - we hope you don’t mind, but we’ll stop and savour a beer every once in a while