The first Yorkshire Festival needed a compelling artistic vision to inspire artists to be ambitious and original with their ideas and encourage everyone to think ‘outside the box’ (away from purely bicycle-related themes).
Maria nurtured artists to see the whole of Yorkshire’s landscape as their territory and encouraged all to to develop resources which would enable the county to be creative in welcoming the Tour. She worked closely with artists prior to submission and curated the first ever, county-wide festival featuring major commissions, community commissions and celebrating existing world class events. Maria worked closely with local authorities across Yorkshire and the principal sponsor to secure financial and in kind support. She oversaw the development of the brand and the budget. Henrietta Duckworth, Executive Director, superbly managed the launch, delivery and evaluation of the programme.
Creative Vision
Across the county and along the route, Yorkshire welcomes the world, with millions experiencing and getting involved in innovative and ambitious world-class work, putting an international spotlight on:
- True Grit: Creative expressions of physical skill, courage and determination.
- Yorkshire ‘en fete’: Creative transformations of Yorkshire’s culture, heritage and landscape, urban, rural and coastal. Creative celebrations of the bicycle, its green credentials and the Grand Depart in the county.
- World-class Yorkshire: A focus on Yorkshire’s vibrant and innovative artists, arts organisations and members of its creative industries.
- Thomas Houseago (Leeds-born international sculptor) exhibited with the Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle (new work outside Leeds City Art Gallery and at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park).
- Tour de Cinema with Sheffield DocFest was a new film Velorama from award-winning director Daisy Asquith, drawing upon BFI archive cycling footage from the last 100 years, shown alongside cycling film treasures like Alan Bennett’s A Day Out, on screens across the county including in some stunning outdoor locations (e.g. Malham Cove, Hardcastle Craggs, Fountains Abbey). The film was shown on big screens over the race weekend and also on BBC4’s Storyville.
- The Ghost Peloton (pictured) with Phoenix Dance Theatre and NVA’s Speed of Light invited fifty LED-lit cyclists to take to the streets in a piece of choreographed moving illumination, culminating in a live performance combining sport, dance and spectacle, in Leeds city centre. Film of the event was shown on big screens over the race weekend.
- Fields of Vision produced original land-art created by Pennine Prospects working with artists, cyclists and farmers, visible from ground on the race route and from helicopters covering the race above. Artists included Imran Qureshi, Steve Messam, Robert Montgomery, Trudi Entwistle and Jane Revitt.
- Alan Dix’s 509 Arts created Bike Story (pictured) which began with a digital call out for peoples’ bike stories, some of which were woven into a new touring outdoor theatrical presentation scripted by Mike Kenny.
- Hope and Social’s The Tour of Infinite Possibility traveled along the race route, with the its A Band Anyone Can Join participation programme and the release of a Festival Song which everyone could play.
- Cape UK‘s DepARTures. Downloadable resources for schools responding to commissions.
- Stumble Dance Circus‘s Cart before Horse. New outdoor show featuring trick cycling.
- HCMF‘s Huddersfield Bicycle Orchestra. Workshops and performances with Levenshulme Bicycle Orchestra.
- imove‘s The Grand Departs (image). Cyclists pull a grand piano, played by Kathryn Stott, up a race route hill.
- Harrogate Theatre and Il PIxel Rosso‘s Le Grand Voyage. Witty, virtual reality bike ride.
- Handmade Parade‘s The Fantastical Cycle Parade.
- The Sheffield Steel Peloton. See the process of making, from iron ore to finished bicycle.
- Frolicked‘s Treasure Hunt. Featuring puppet characters across the region.
- Kate Fox and Leeds’ Young Authors True Grit Digital Poetry.
NYMAZ’s Wish You Were Here Songs created and then relayed on bicycles from town to town. - Dryden Goodwin’s Poised at Hull’s Ferens Gallery. Female divers celebrated in film.
- Annapurna Dance‘s Bicycle Barefoot. Traditional South Asian dance with a twist.
- Cassandra Kilbride‘s Woolly Bicycle Trail. Yarn-storming workshops and installations.
