Festival of Culture
Festival of Culture 2023
The 2023 Lancaster Communities Together Festival of Culture was held at the Lancaster Institute for Contemporary Arts (LICA), Lancaster University on 5th March 2023. It was the ninth such festival organised by the Communities Together group coordinated by Lancaster City Council, and the first since the pandemic. It was organised by a subgroup from the Communities Together group consisting of:
Harsha Shukla (Hindu Community) Chair, Suhir Abuhajar (Naba Arabic school), Sayjda Talib (Pakistani community), Fiona Frank (Lancaster and Lakes Jewish community), and Sarah Baines (Lancaster Integrated Care Community). Adam Kirkby (Lancaster City Council) provided secretariat support and played a key role in the planning and managing of the event. Lancaster District CVS acted as the festival treasurer, with planning advice and support on the day from its Chief Officer, Yak Patel. The Confucius Institute provided a set of Chinese cultural activities and Lancaster University Conference Dept provided valuable support and input. Bethan Marriott, the engagement and events officer for Lancaster University, oversaw the planning and facilitation of the event.
Bookings were taken through Eventbrite; approximately 650 people attended the event during the afternoon and moved between stalls, performances, food and children’s activities, both at LICA and at the Confucius Institute.
Performers included:
- Folk to Folk community band with Klezmer (Ashkenasi Jewish) music and dance.
- A samba reggae drumming band.
- The national anthem of Pakistan by Lancaster Pakistani Youth Community as well as a fashion show involving students from Lancaster University.
- Lancaster and Morecambe Bay Chinese Community Association Choir performed two Chinese songs and James Liu facilitated a Chinese word guessing game.
- 12 Strings, Lancaster University classical Chinese musical group, performed Chinese music with traditional instruments.
- The Tara Centre Monday Club presented Kurdish and Afghanistan dancing, an Ethiopian poem and an Azerbaijani song.
- The Naba Arabic Centre performed and Waled Elbadry performed a spectacular Arabic dance in full costume (and lights!)
- The Polish Saturday school performed a song and a poem, in English and in Polish.
- A Hindu classical dancer performed.
There were 16 stalls including: Food Futures, Ansaar of Lancaster, Naba Arabic School, the Polish Saturday School, Neuro Dropin Centre, East Meets West, the Pakistani Community, Lancaster and Morecambe Bay Chinese Community Association, the Cornerstone, Lancaster Confucius Institute, Lancashire Fire and Rescue, St John’s Hospice, Lancashire Constabulary, and Lancaster Integrated Care Community.
The festival could not have gone ahead without the financial support offered by:
- Lancaster University
- Lancaster City Council
- Lancaster CVS Community Fund
- Lancaster Local Integration Fund
- Confucius Institute
Many of the stall holders and performers made substantial contributions in kind to the event.
600 meals were cooked by the Global village cafe, Food Como, the Herbarium and Guan Zi Chinese Restaurant. Travel support was provided: a coach for 55 refugees and asylum seekers from Morecambe and Lancaster, and 50 free Stagecoach Day Riders were made available to any members of the public who asked for them.
The Communities Together group felt that this festival provided an excellent way of increasing their own cohesiveness and viability – the community worked incredibly hard in the 6 weeks leading up to the event and developed close relationships within the team.
A survey was sent out on KeepConnected and feedback has been received by the chair of Communities Together.
Some press articles and photos can be seen here: https://www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/news/people/lancasters-ninth-festival-of-culture-hailed-a-big-success-4054254
https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/confucius-institute/news/festival-of-culture
