Whilst 175,000 people gathered at Worthy Farm in Somerset for the Official Glastonbury 2019 Festival last weekend, over at the Artz Centre in Skelmersdale, a grassroots music festival of a similar kind (albeit not of the same scale) was unfolding.
The Artz Centre held its aptly named GlaZtonbury event on Saturday, playing host to a line up of no less than 54 local young musicians and singers, who each performed throughout the day (and night) of fun, food, live music and glorious weather.
The GlaZtonbury event encouraged local young musicians to embrace the much-loved “music festival” theme; and local youngsters took to the stage to sing and perform with their wellies and glitter a-plenty. However, the reasoning behind the need for this local festival is a little less light-hearted. A spokesperson from the Artz Centre reveals more: “We’re currently facing a huge problem with our roof here at the Artz Centre; with all of the recent rain, parts of the building are just not holding up to the elements. With that in mind, the majority of the proceeds from this brilliant GlaZtonbury Festival event will be funding the repair of our Artz Centre’s roof. So, whilst the students were ‘raising the roof’ on stage with their brilliant performances last weekend, they were quite literally raising the funds needed to keep this roof over our heads!”
The event was also produced and supported by the Artz Centre’s newly established Tech Team; a group which comprises a selection of local adults who recently completed their Level 1 Technical Theatre course, accredited by both the Artz Centre and West Lancashire College. The new Artz in-house Tech Team designed the lights, sound and intricate staging for the unique event, and some of them even took to the stage themselves during the festival to entertain the crowds.
Over 217 local people attended the Artz GlaZtonbury event, which included live music, face painting, rock painting, a Festival BBQ, bouncy castle and more, and the festival was a tremendous example of fostering positive community spirit; and how people can work together to overcome problems in the face of adversity.
The Artz Centre will be continuing to raise funds over the coming months in order to fix the roof, if you would like to help, please do not hesitate to get in touch at:
info@artzcentre.co.uk or call us on 01695 733 080
