Join the fun of the Festival of Chichester

PLANS for next year’s third Festival of Chichester will start to take shape at a public meeting in the Chichester City Council offices in North Street.

Organisers of the festival – a successor to the defunct Chichester Festivities – are delighted at the way it has established itself on the south’s arts calendar.

Last year’s inaugural festival attracted several hundred events; this summer’s festival built on the success impressively.

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Festival chairman Phil Hewitt said: “As we start to think about 2015, it’s important that we ask the public what they think, just as we did before the first and the second festivals.

“Many useful suggestions came out of last year’s public meeting, and we were pleased to act on all of them for this year.”

The festival launch meeting will be in the city council offices on Tuesday, October 14, at 7pm, signalling the festival’s close ties with the city authority.

“As ever, we do need to observe fire regulations, though, so once again we are asking people to notify us in advance of their intention of coming along, one person per organisation.

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“Please just email me on [email protected]. We must make sure we don’t exceed the safety limit.”

Barry Smith, festival co-ordinator, was delighted with this year’s success, the perfect platform from which to look forward to next year.

“We had a fantastic response from people wishing to take part in the festival this year – and we’re looking for the festival to be even better and bigger in 2015.

“We believe it’s now one of the largest festivals in the south. The Festival of Chichester is a unique blend of community-based and professional events headed by big names in their field.

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“We’re calling on people of all backgrounds with ideas for musical, theatrical, artistic, cinematic, literary or spoken-word events to come along to our public meeting and find out what it’s all about.

“We’re particularly keen to make contact with people new to the festival.

“We are always pleased to hear of new or unusual ventures – like last year’s food festival or tours of the city or sport-focused events.

“The message is come and join the fun and see if we can improve on the 250 events on offer last year!”

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Dr Hewitt agreed: “It’s all about moving the festival forward.

“If you already know what we’re all about, then there’s no need to come along to the meeting – though of course, you’ll be welcome, numbers permitting.

“This year, we’ve made huge progress in so many ways, as Barry will explain on the night.

“Once we’ve had the meeting, everyone already on our mailing list will receive details about how to go about registering their event for next year.

“If you can’t get to the meeting but want to go on our mailing list, let me know on the email above.”

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