Spectators enjoy front Row seats
Around 5,000 people and a legion of local artists descended onto the Rows over the weekend as Chester city centre was turned into a giant stage for a two-day programme of music, performance, dance and art.
Roam the Rows paid tribute to Chester”s famous raised walkways by raising the bar for street art. The festival, organised by Chester Performs, included everything from individual artists, to Chester”s own extrovert “free runners”, who performed acrobatic feats in front of the crowds. The event is the second of four major festivals planned this year by Chester Performs, all designed to animate the streets and bring Chester”s own artists and its culture to the fore. Amber Knipe, Chester Performs” Project Co-ordinator, said: “We were delighted and, increasingly, not surprised at the enthusiasm and commitment shown by our City – both participants and retailers in this case combined to produce a really welcoming event that showed the best of Chester”s street life. Hopefully we have been able to provide more of an impetus to local businesses whilst giving an excellent impression of the cultural vibrancy of the City. An amazing 270 artists took part in the event. Over 90% of them were from the region and 70% from Chester and Cheshire. I think people were pleasantly surprised at the scale of the event. Chester”s Rows are quite extensive, this allowed us to create a journey which shoppers and visitors could join at any point and decide their own route to travel. The number of local artists that contributed proved that Chester has a rich base of artistic talent, not forgetting all the members of the public who took part in the Mass Freeze”s in the City centre”. Groups taking part included Dee-Sign, a Chester Community Deaf Choir who transformed singing into sign, InterAct and Mold Drama Works, Chester Musical Society, APiiS, as well as Chester artists W. Terry Fox, Cheshire”s Poet Laureate, who created a series of poems on posters and recited some of his poems with his guitar, plus art from Gregory MacMillan, Hayley Wood and Jayne Carle.
The event offered everything from “free running” Parkour to story telling, installation art, walkabout street performance, mischevious guided tours, dance and puppetry. There was also a whole host of opportunities for visitors to get involved with the artists directly at sites across the cities major streets, Eastgate, Northgate, Watergate and Bridge Street.
Chester”s retailers were heavily involved in Roam the Rows, which significantly increased footfall on both the Saturday and Sunday. For further information about Roam the Rows and future events from Chester Performs, visit www.chesterperforms.com or contact the Chester Performs office on 01244 409113. ENDS: 392 words
Captions:
Free running.jpg – a crowd gathered at Chester”s Cross to watch acrobatic feats from local “free runners”
Shopped then I dropped.jpg – a local artist with a literal take on the phrase
PHOTOS (300dpi+) and more information at: http://www.marketingprojects.co.uk/clientpo/chester-performs
Background Chester Performs is overseeing the development of the city”s new performing arts centre, which will open in 2011. Set to challenge audiences with a series of high profile performing arts events and community projects Chester Performs aims are to broaden horizons and raise the level of expectation in the performing arts both in Chester and Cheshire.
Chester Performs is gaining an enviable reputation for staging exciting performances in non-traditional and outdoor spaces across the region. Cutting edge performances will take place on the streets of Chester, by the River Dee and around the Roman walls. These projects will involve street performers and aerial artists, musicians, dancers, actors, visual and sonic artists, installations and performance art. Up the Wall, based on the City Walls, attracted a 3,500 audience in November. Screen Deva, a new film and digital media festival for Chester, attracted more than 1,000 people to a range of events across the City in June.
Chester Performs Contact: Amber Knipe Tel: 01244 409113
Press Contacts: Jane Harrad-Roberts Mob: 07785 395705 Phil Brotherhood Mob: 07884 493370
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