TRANSPORT THEMED ART SET TO TAKE OVER FLEETWOOD FOR TRAM SUNDAY
9 July 2015
by Visit Blackpool
Over thirty companies will be performing across the day with arts activities taking place from 12-6pm at Marine Hall, The Esplanade, Euston Gardens, Adelaide Street and Fisherman’s Walk tram stop.
The festival is headlined by professional integrated circus company Extraordinary Bodies who are presenting their new show Weighting. The company pride themselves on integrating performers with every age and type of body to demonstrate that anyone can be part of the arts. Weighting tells the story of an extraordinary family who make new discoveries in the face of love and loss. The show celebrates risk-taking and the right time to let go. Audiences can see the show at 1pm and 5pm outside Marine Hall.
The SpareParts Art Parade will wind its way through Fleetwood from 3pm with Rag and Bone leading the way with their collection of crazy vehicles delighting spectators along the route. They’ll be joined by creative creations made by Handmade Parade and members of the community, plus artist Jon Large who has been creating a new Scenic~O~Sonic Sound System float which will provide the musical element. The parade starts at Memorial Park and follows Lord Street, Bold Street, Mount Road, The Esplanade and finishes at Marine Hall.
Based on the Esplanade the festival offers an array of interactive shows and performances within vehicles including The Insect Circus, housed within a vintage Bedford TK Beetlebox lorry, this unique museum displays a stunning array of costumes, props and toys from the Insect Circus Society. The Travelling Treasury invites you to enter a beautifully transformed caravan for a magical storytelling experience where the pages of a book come to life before your very eyes. Motionhouse return for 2015 after the success of their ‘dancing diggers’ performance on the beach at last year’s festival with their production Underground, which sees four dancers inside a rocking tubular structure while exploring the reality of train travel.
Wandering the streets of Fleetwood will be an array of amazing strolling shows including Granny Tourismo, three raucous grandmothers who burn rubber and make up the first and only shopping trolley dance display team. The Sauruses will also be stalking the streets with a deafening roar, looking for food to calm their prehistoric hunger – plus The Lollipop Patrol will be bringing their own brand of road safety, with their excessive enthusiasm and slippery grip on reality, they are the luminous hand of the law.
For those wanting to get hands on Blackpool based artist Infected by Design will be teaching children skills using graffiti, stickers and acrylic makers to create a one of a kind piece of urban art; while Sarah Hicks will be helping kids create their own vehicle from recycled materials to take home or contribute to a large collaborative art piece.
Julia Turpin, Executive Director of LeftCoast, said:
“We’re really excited about this year’s programme of arts activities at Tram Sunday. Getting the festival committee involved in selecting the artists who will perform has been great and together we’ve shaped a programme which we hope will delight audiences throughout the day.”
Councillor Lynne Bowen, Cabinet member with responsibility for arts at Wyre Council, said:
“SpareParts brings a fantastically lively and colourful element to an already hugely entertaining event, filling the streets of Fleetwood with music, dance and storytelling. The Extraordinary Bodies shows at Marine Hall are bound to be a highlight. Visitors to Tram Sunday are promised an absolutely wonderful day out.”
Robert Brown, Chairman of Fleetwood Festival of Transport, said:
“It has been brilliant to work with LeftCoast and Wyre Council this year to add the arts element once again. Tram Sunday is an incredibly important day for Fleetwood and working together to diversify the appeal of this already hugely successful event can only be a good thing.”
For more information about SpareParts at Fleetwood Festival of Transport or to view the full programme visit www.fleetwoodfestivaloftransport.co.uk. You can also like Fleetwood Festival of Transport on Facebook or follow on Twitter @FdFestTramSun.