Festival will urge you to reach for the moon
CREATIVE SHOWCASE WILL BE COMING TO THE CITY NEXT YEAR
LEICESTER is to host a new festival that is designed to stir the imagination, champion creativity and make people consider their place in the universe.
Tour De Moon, part of the Unboxed: Creativity in the UK festival, will see Leicester one of several host cities to take part in a series of live shows, satellite events and nightlife experiences that showcase creativity from May 13 to 16.
It will have eight strands:
■ Moon Experiences: A series of live immersive experiences that inspire people to consider their time on Earth and discuss future utopias;
■ Moon Music: For young people aged 18 to 25 and the over 70s, this will see people weave their voices together with Earth sounds;
■ Moon Hotline: Playing experiments and digital experience will allow people to talk directly to the moon;
■ Moon Sports: A playground of giant inflatables will let people rethink the future of sport;
■ Moon Cinema: A series of specially commissioned films and a midnight mass screening will take place to further people’s relationship with the moon;
■ Moon Bar: Workshops to discuss the satellite and take part in multidisciplinary talks;
■ Moon Press: A scheme for underrepresented 18 to 25-year-old writers, thinkers and artists across unconventional media such as cereal boxes ■ Moon Convoy: A travelling parade that will hit streets far and wide before finishing in London
Organisers hope Tour De Moon and Unboxed will become as big as the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
Martin Green, chief creative officer for Unboxed: Creativity in the UK, said: “Hundreds of creatives from across science, technology, engineering, arts and maths are creating extraordinary events and online experiences for millions in the UK’s biggest and most ambitious public creative programme to date. Unboxed represents an unprecedented and timely opportunity for people to come together across the UK and beyond and take part in awe-inspiring projects that speak to who we are and explore the ideas that will define our futures.”
Backed by £120 million of government funding, Boris Johnson hailed the festival as “a celebration of UK ingenuity, energy, innovation, optimism and all-round creative genius”.
He said: “It will be unlike anything else that has been seen before.”
A celebration of UK ingenuity, energy, innovation, optimism and all-round creative genius Boris Johnson