Harrogate International Festivals has released the line-up for its virtual arts weekender taking place from 23-26 July.

Having cancelled this years Summer Season due to coronavirus, HIF were determined to still celebrate the arts and have instead taken their weekend festival online.

The weekend begins by crowning the winner of Harrogate’s Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in a virtual ceremony. This will be followed by interviews from crime writing royalty including Ian Ranking and Val McDermid.

The free virtual festival will also feature the world premier of Eclipse. The new piece of music, commissioned by Harrogate International Festivals, features celebrated trumpeter Mike Lovatt.

Val Mcdermid, crime fiction writer

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Sharon Canavar, chief executive of Harrogate International Festivals said the arts had the ability to transform lives:

“Out of crisis comes creativity, and Harrogate International Festivals is delighted to present a world class line-up for our first virtual HIF Weekender…we are extremely proud to be presenting this rich selection to our audience world-wide for free, ensuring the arts remain accessible to all at a time when we need it the most.”

Granny’s Attic will be one of many bands featured this weekend.

Harrogate International Festivals hopes to welcome people back to the festival this year despite the circumstances and is determined to make it a year to remember.

For more information and to see the full line-up for the HIF Weekender visit – www.harrogateinternationalfestivals.com

An exclusive new piece of music commissioned by Harrogate International Festivals will premiere online next month.

The charity commissioned internationally renowned composer Dr David Lancaster to write the music, before asking musicians from all over the world to get involved by playing their part from the comfort of their living rooms.

HIF said the response was “phenomenal” with musicians submitting videos from countries including Australia, South Africa and Malaysia, as well as the UK.

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One of the submissions came from Matthew Gee, Principal Trombone with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He said:

“It’s great to see the arts organisations taking a fresh and radical approach to music making – for them to be commissioning new material during lockdown is even better.”

Internationally renowned composer, Professor David Lancaster.

The chief executive of Harrogate International Festivals, Sharon Canavar, also noted the importance of “keeping the arts alive in Harrogate”, despite coronavirus putting paid to its usual summer programme. She said:

“We are incredibly excited to be able to bring the world premiere of Eclipse to life this July. It is going to be a truly international collaboration and one that will help shine a bright light on the power of the arts.”

Eclipse will premiere globally from 23 to 26 July. Further details of HIF at Home are available here – https://harrogateinternationalfestivals.com/hif-at-home/. 

Two Harrogate charities have received emergency funding from the Arts Council in an effort to recover from the impact of coronavirus.

The pandemic has left many charities unable to fundraise making grants essential in securing their futures. Harrogate International Festivals and Artizan International have both received grants from the Arts Council.

Grants such as these are being put towards programmes to continue to support their members over lockdown and also give the organisations the opportunity to plan for future events.

The amounts varied between organisation, Harrogate International Festival received £25,000. The chief executive of Harrogate International Festivals, Sharon Canavar said:

“We’re incredibly grateful that we have received this funding especially during such a challenging time for all. These funds will ensure we continue to deliver and communicate with our audiences during this pandemic. We have focused on our digital strategy producing and developing work for our newly launched HIF Player and bringing the arts into people’s homes. It has enabled us to pay our artists and to create a free podcast.”

Artizan International received a grant of £18,000 to help run online sessions in the upcoming months. Before lockdown the charity ran free craft workshops for adults and children with disabilities in Harrogate and worked with long-term patients at Harrogate District Hospital.

The UK programmes officer for the charity, Liz Cluderay said:

“Coronavirus has had a huge impact on us, we hold hundreds of craft workshops throughout the year but we haven’t been able to hold any over the past months. Our participants are already isolated under normal circumstances being vulnerable and disabled. This pandemic means that they are cut off from the few social opportunities they had available to them.

We had to look at the long-term problems we could face and we sent a plan to the Arts Council to hold our craft workshops over zoom. The funding is covering the costs for six months of weekly zoom meetings with craft packages sent to our members’ door. They are all very excited and looking forward to seeing their friends faces on zoom sessions.”

Harrogate International Festivals is relying on extra funding due to its loss of income during the pandemic.

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The Arts Council announced that a total of £64.8 million has been awarded to almost 9000 individuals organisations through their Covid-19 emergency response package.

Nina Baptiste, Senior Relationship Manager, North, Arts Council England said:

“I am really pleased that we have been able to support Harrogate International Festivals and Artizan International with our Emergency Response Funding.

“During this unprecedented time it is has been heart-breaking to see organisations being negatively impacted by the pandemic. I hope that our support will enable them to tackle the immediate challenges that they are facing.”

The future of one of Harrogate’s leading cultural programmes is in the balance after coronavirus forced organisers to cancel an entire season of events. 

Harrogate International Festivals has called off its renowned Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival and popular Spiegeltent, as well as numerous outdoor theatre and community events set to run through the summer. 

Instead, it is setting up an online resource to share some of its work with people at home. 

In a statement, the organisation said: “As a not-for-profit arts charity, we are reliant on our events programme and ticket income, alongside sponsor support and donor philanthropy, and so the cancellation of our main season has huge financial implications that place the future of our Festivals at risk.  

“But despite the unprecedented challenge we now face, our mission to bring immersive and moving cultural experiences to as many people as possible remains unchanged.” 

Although the festivals will not be going ahead, the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award will still be announced in July, with nominated authors set to give online interviews. HIF Player, meanwhile, will be a free online hub of archive performances, educational material and activities for families to use at home. 

The statement concluded:

“Art and culture help us understand what it means to be human and how to make sense of life, and festivals are a vital part of this ecology. When this troubling time passes, we will need – more than ever – the transformative power of the arts to bring communities together, to inspire hope, to lift spirits and change lives.”