Something for all the family at free festival
Celebration of creative ideas
IMAGINATION, creativity and discoveries were celebrated during a busy week of inspirational events accompanying the re-opening of Rochdale Town Hall at the first Rochdale Borough Festival of Ideas.
More than 20 free family-friendly events took place, including eyecatching visual arts, live music, theatre performances, games, thoughtprovoking talks, dance and interactive installations.
The festival opened with a dramatic and colourful light show at Rochdale Town Hall attended by more than 1,000 visitors.
The illuminating performances were set to a new soundtrack created for the event by Daniel Mawson and a new spoken word piece by Jenny Berry combining Rochdale’s past achievements and famous names with aspirations for the future as the town hall begins a new chapter.
There were two sold-out concerts by the legendary Black Dyke Band, repeating a famous piece of history as they were the band who performed at the ceremony when the building first opened back in 1871.
In a celebration of young people’s ideas, the festival worked with 1,850 schoolchildren to generate 10,000 brilliant ideas, which was displayed as part of a giant sculpture.
The festival saw a world premiere of a stunning outdoor installation - ‘The Living Dress,’ a large-scale naturally-dyed, handmade dress worn by a 5m high sculpture on The Esplanade.
Fluid Motion Theatre presented their ‘Take Ten’ performance installation; inviting guests to relax and take a moment on colourful swing chairs, guided by a soothing soundtrack.
The artistic performance was around the idea of mental wellbeing, underpinned by the ‘Five steps to mental wellbeing’ and lots of positive feedback was received from residents.
Power Up – was a fastpaced and popular event where visitors tried out an exciting range of Esports games at Middleton Arena in partnership with Hopwood Hall College.
Visitors learnt what it takes to create a brilliant game and how new technology is being used.
Number One Riverside hosted ‘Theatre Electric’ an immersive virtual reality experience which took players on a journey into another world using cutting-edge technology for a thrilling adventure.
Muslim Hikers, the largest community in the world for Muslims interested in the outdoors, held a gentle hike through some of the borough’s beauty spots around Littleborough.
Move Manchester presented ‘Zugzwang’ at Rochdale Town Hall – a dynamic dance performance set on a giant chess board, commissioned and supported by M6 Theatre.
There was no shortage of local ideas, with the festival showcasing ideas home-grown in the borough commissioned in partnership with The Culture Co-op, Rochdale borough’s Creative People and Places Programme, funded by Arts Council England.
These included the weird and wonderful ‘Maker Games’ at Castlemere Banqueting Hall - a battle of creativity and ingenuity as teams battled it out in a mix of Scrapheap Challenge and Taskmaster.
The Nigeria Community Association hosted African Fashion Week at the town hall on International Women’s Day, showcasing a range of styles from Africa and beyond.
The event drew a big audience as models walked the runway in stunning garments to a live DJ set.
Rochdale’s music heritage was celebrated with ‘Rock Dale Wall of Sound’ bringing to life the important role it played in a string of small and innovative music studios from the late 60s onwards, with an installation inside Rochdale Exchange Shop