A weekend-long festival celebrating Calderdale’s diverse cultures will mark South Asian Heritage Month, and is a key part of the borough’s Year of Culture 2024.
On Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 August from 11am to 8pm, the beautiful People’s Park in Halifax will come alive with film, food, entertainment and music, showcasing Calderdale’s multicultural identity.
Saturday 3 August will bring a free international film festival to the park, with showings of independent short films and family-friendly classics, and a Bollywood epic to finish the day.
On Sunday 4 August, a free community-orientated music festival produced in partnership with Radio Sangam will bring inclusive entertainment for all the family.
Calderdale Council’s CultureDale(external link) (Year of Culture 2024) team is bringing back the much-loved People’s Park Festival in response to local people being keen to see it reinstated. The Festival was an annual summer fixture over 20 years ago, known for bringing people together from across Calderdale.
In keeping with CultureDale’s focus on community and homegrown talent, there will be plenty of local performers and local suppliers / stallholders throughout the Festival. The schedule has been developed in partnership with the community, and is based on lots of conversations with local people about what they want to see at the Festival.
Just some of this local talent includes pupils from Wainstalls and Ash Green primary schools, who have worked on short films that will be shown during the international film festival on Saturday 4 August.
The pupils, plus hundreds of others from schools across Calderdale (including Parkinson Lane and Beech Hill primary schools which are near People’s Park), took part in CultureDale’s ‘LightsCameraScore!’ project to make the animated films, in partnership with Three Stones Media, English Chamber Orchestra, Bent Architect and Calderdale Music Hub. Funded by CultureDale, the children worked alongside award-winning music and media professionals to learn about and create the screen-based content that is part of many young people’s cultural experience.
Calderdale Council is also marking South Asian Heritage Month (18 July to 17 August) with a showcase of items from its museum collections at the Central Library in Halifax. On display are South Asian textiles and art and cultural items, ranging from everyday objects to elaborate ceremonial costumes, collected from the 19th century to the present day in both Calderdale and the eight countries that make up South Asia. There is also a display of books by South Asian writers.
Cllr Scott Patient, Calderdale Council’s Deputy Leader, said:
“The amazing celebrations going on for our Year of Culture and South Asian Heritage Month show just how rich, vibrant and diverse our multicultural borough is.
“Bringing back the People’s Park Festival as part of CultureDale is a great honour. It’s the perfect example of our Year of Culture themes of inclusivity and bringing people together to enjoy different cultures.
“It’s wonderful that the work of local schoolchildren will also be in the spotlight at the Festival. I know just how meaningful the film-making has been to them and their development. We’re looking at ways to continue the ‘LightsCameraScore!’ project to further boost the connection between creativity and learning, and to leave a valuable CultureDale legacy.”
Dr Gregory Boardman, Co-Creator of LightsCameraScore!, said:
“We’re excited that LightsCameraScore films are going to be on screen as part of the People’s Park event. It was a real joy to work with all the Calderdale schools as part of this film and music project supported by CultureDale. It’s vital that arts organisations get involved co-creating works with young people and then even more important that the outcomes are seen by their communities.”
Mick Martin, the storywriter commissioned to help the children draft their stories to turn into scripts for the films, added:
“I’m delighted that our animation films made with the Year 4, 5 and 6 pupils of Calderdale are going to be screened at the People’s Park Festival. It was a pleasure to work with the schools, teachers and most of all the children. Their work is brilliant and deserves to be seen and celebrated.”
See CultureDale’s pre-Festival videos here: YouTube(external link).
A short video summary of the LightsCameraScore! project can be viewed here: https://spaces.hightail.com/space/XkcxBFtc3i(external link)
For more information about the People’s Park Festival and Calderdale’s Year of Culture 2024, visit www.culturedale.co.uk(external link)
CultureDale celebrates Calderdale’s 50th anniversary year. The programme features locally-created events, festivals, exhibitions, performances and initiatives for everyone to enjoy from April 2024 to April 2025. It is funded by Calderdale Council, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Arts Council England, National Lottery Heritage Fund and UK Shared Prosperity Fund.