The final event of Dispel Arts trailblazing Word Fest Turn the Page concluded last Sunday, leaving a mark on Bishop Auckland’s community by igniting their passions for creativity in the literacy world, writes volunteer community reporter Rhys Toomey.
The festival was a two-week journey jam-packed with events that surrounded reading, art, songwriting, storytelling, and poetry.
The events were crafted to be engaging for all ages, with separate events for families and those over 18, all in the heart of Bishop Auckland’s Market Place.
“It’s been good; we’ve been steady away,” said Alison Curry, producer at Dispel Arts. “It had a short advertisement, but we got a really good response. I’d say over a thousand people through the doors within a fortnight.
“Normally on a weekend or a normal summer holiday we’ve been getting twenty people in, but we’ve had a lot more than that.”
The festival’s opening event involved an artistic scene with street-style paste-ups and community storytelling led by Sarah Calavera, who shared her lived experience as a northerner.
There was also a visit from Kynren’s very own Shakespeare in support of the festival’s mission.
The Word Fest was funded by Bishop Auckland Town Council and supported by local libraries, bookshops, and businesses who were involved and hosted some of the events in celebration of local heritage and the art of storytelling.
Thanks to their advertising, more people were encouraged to join in on the festival’s activities from the “six word stories about Bishop which were put in the Park Head and at local businesses,” said Alison.
“Lots of people visit and say that they have seen them, they’ve been doing them, and interacting with them, which has been lovely.”
The Hearth, located in the Market Place, hosted the festival’s Sip and Stories Evening event, which featured local writer and poet Laura Roberts, who shared folklore, legends, and history.
They also partnered with the Artist Hub to aid them with their Open Mic, where poetry inspired by Bishop itself was read, and musicians came to perform songs about local places and everyday life.
Most events were hosted at the Artists’ Hub, which was buzzing with Shanty Singers, zine creation with Daisy Arts, and book readings. Local authors and illustrators, Linda Lee and Lorraine Hall read Ralph and Sprout while Victoria Downes read The Friends who Remember.
There was also some travelling in the Market Place with the Word Trail event, “so children can find the creatures on Bondgate,” from Millie Marotta’s Brilliant Beasts and “when they came back they got their own copy of Brilliant Beasts, so that was also really well received,” said Alison.
The festival was also partnered with Bishop Auckland College and the National Literacy Trust, who had donated 400 books to offer to festival attendees in hopes of increasing local literacy interest.
The idea for creating the Word Fest actually began with Alison wanting to spark an interest within her community by introducing others to all the wonders that literacy has to offer, with greater hopes of improving local literacy development.
“When I was teaching, I had to work with children who had barriers to literacy, and Bishop Auckland has really low levels of literacy,” she said. “I thought it would be nice to combine the two worlds of creativity and literacy just to bring joy and fun back into reading and a space where they could do that, and the festival certainly did just that.”
Alison shared the best moments that the festival fostered.
“I think seeing families come to create and sit together has been the highlight,” she said. “Seeing families just coming to this space to pick up a book or start drawing and the older people chatting about how Bishop used to be and how they want it to be in the future, has just been really lovely.”
Fortunately, for those who have enjoyed the festival and crave more, or those who are interested in getting involved, keep reading because Dispel Arts has “the intention that next year we can turn the page for Chapter Two and then each year we can do a new chapter,” said Alison. “It was never designed just to be a one-off; it’s there, and we’ve had really positive feedback from the families that would love to come back next year,” she said.
The festival has achieved everything it set out to and is ready to become Bishop’s latest annual event.
The attendees “loved being a part of it and are really keen on being involved next year,” she said. “Everybody has just been really enthusiastic about having it and getting people talking about writing and reading, and something that is both a little bit of fun and joy before the spark of autumn.”
Although the next Word Fest is a year away, the Artists’ Hub in the Market Place will continue to be busy with the Heritage Festival on 26 September, and soon after, a Black and White exhibition featuring monochromed community art made by local artists will be on display for everyone to enjoy.
To stay up to date for future events, follow @dispelart, @daisyartcic and @theartisthub.bishop on Instagram.
Story written by a volunteer community journalist for SWDN. If you would like to contribute, including writing articles, attending events on our behalf and/or taking photos, email volunteer[@]swd[.]news to get started or register interest for next workshop here.
Rhys Toomey
Bishop Auckland's local community newspaper.
