Diversity in Composition Conference

How can the classical music industry work better together to get more black, Asian and minority ethnic composers heard and celebrated?

In BBC Radio 3’s 70th anniversary year, alongside a celebration of our unique history, we’re focusing on future directions in classical music composition. In partnership with BASCA , the BBC Philharmonic and the Royal Northern College of Music, we’re hosting a one day pan-industry conference which aims to facilitate greater inclusion in classical music composition from composers and would-be composers from the UK’s black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.

The future of the UK is increasingly diverse and the future development and excellence of classical music needs to be enriched by full engagement with the widest possible range of artistic and cultural perspectives.

Diversity in Composition is a pan-industry event which invites all involved in classical music-making; composers, publishers, festival directors, educators, venue managements, orchestral, chamber and operatic managements, funders, commissioners and industry bodies.

Guest speakers include: composers Daniel Kidane, Jeffrey Mumford, Priti Paintal, Shirley J. Thompson, Errollyn Wallen, CEO BASCA Vick Bain, BBC Radio 3 Controller Alan Davey, BBC’s Head of Diversity and Inclusion Tunde Ogungbesan, CEO Sound and Music Susanna Eastburn, Toks Dada of THSHBirmingham and others.

Juan Martin

Doors: 7pm
Performance begins: 8pm

Celebrated virtuoso of the flamenco guitar Juan Martin visits Folkestone this autumn with a show that will blow the roof off! Voted in the top three guitarists in the world by US magazine Guitar Player, Juan Martin played in the Spanish film Donde tu Estes aged 17, played for Picasso’s 90th birthday celebrations and has performed at international festivals from Montreux to Hong Kong including three nights in Tehran to an audience of 9000 people.

With a terrifyingly good technique and absolute dominance of the guitar Juan Martin is a must for music devotees, budding guitarists and flamenco lovers.

“a giant of the flamenco guitar tradition” The Times

“no flash, just loads of panache” The Age in Melbourne

‘He drew in the audience with the intimacy of his playing, as well as dazzling us with his bravura.” Sunday Times

WOW 2016: Jane Eyre Reimagined by Shion Duo

To celebrate the bicentenary of Charlotte Brontë’s birth, Shion Duo are joined by actress Rebecca Kenny for this special concert.  Shion Duo have re-imagened Jane Eyre through music and words written by and for women from around the world.

The programme will include new commissions by students of the Royal Northern College of Music, and music by Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, Marina Dranishnikova and Clara Schumann.e.

Jane Eyre was Charlotte Brontë’s first novel and was published in 1847, it is the story of Jane Eyre’s  emotions and experiences including her growth to adulthood and her love for Mr. Rochester.

“I am no bird; no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will.”

About Shion Duo

Oboe: Mana Shibata
Piano: Suling King
Actress: Rebecca Kenny

Japanese oboist, Mana Shibata and London-based pianist, Suling King formed Shion Duo in 2015 with the aim to give the abundance of stunning repertoire for oboe and piano duo the attention that it deserves. Most notably Shion Duo has worked closely with composer Paul Patterson on his Phoenix Sonata, as well as promoting works by British composers in general.

Mana enjoys a varied career as a freelance oboist in the UK in orchestras and as a chamber musician. She has worked with orchestras such as Manchester Camerata, City of London Sinfonia and Orchestras of Scottish Opera and the Royal Opera House. At 2014 Barbirolli International Oboe Competition, she was awarded a special prize for her performance of the oboe sonata by the British composer, York Bowen. Contemporary music is a significant part in Mana’s life. In 2012 she was one of 7 performers in the Opera Group’s award-winning revival of Bow Down by Harrison Birtwistle, a music-theatre piece in which every performer uses song, instrumental music, spoken words and physical movement to tell the old folk tale, Two Sisters.

Suling King was a student at the Purcell School of Music from 2002-2004, and continued her studies at the Royal Academy of Music. She also gained a Bachelor of Music from King’s College London, specialising in piano performance. Suling regularly accompanies musicians at the London Colleges and the European Union Youth Orchestra.

About the Women of the World Concert series

Equator Festival launched the Women of the World concert series in 2007, with the simple aim of promoting female performers  from all music genres, from all over the world.  Each year Equator showcases the best in female performers, musicians and songwriters.  Over the last nine years the WOW series has presented music from Africa, Eastern-Europe, Middle East, India, Australia and the UK.  The performances have included everything from choirs to solo performers, works you have heard before and new commissions.  Previous performers include: Beyounes Quarter, Commander-in-Chief, Hannah Marcinowicz, Ignite Ensemble, London Bulgarian Choir, London Klezmer Quartet, London Tango Trio, Monica Vasconcelos, Oclay Bayir, Shallu Jindal and Shiva Nova

WOW 2016: Invicta Upper Voices & Invicta Voices

Performing for the first time the Invicta Upper Voices choir will sing works by female choral composers from the 20th century, with complimentary pieces from their male counterparts.

Invicta Upper Voices will be joined by Invicta Voices in an exciting and colourful programme with works from Ivette Harryman, Charlotte Bray and Alice Parker alongside the world premieres of three specially-commissioned pieces by women composers. The concert will also feature works from Eric Whitacre, Paul Patterson, Priti Paintal and Ola Gjeilo.

About Invicta Voices

Invicta Voices is a London based acapella choir formed in October 2014, originally from University of Kent alumni. The singers come from all walks of life, including; teachers, lawyers, financiers and film producers to name just a few. Although we have a diverse range of backgrounds, we are all united in our shared passion for music and choral singing.

Meeting bi-weekly, the choir enjoys exploring a wide range of choral music from traditional pieces by composers such as Byrd and Hassler right the way through to contemporary choral pieces by Gjeilo, Patterson and Whitacre.

Since the choir was formed, they have had some brilliant performance opportunities, with performances at the University of Kent’s 50th Anniversary Celebrations at the House of Lords, the Colyer-Fergusson Hall in Canterbury, and most recently in the Gresham Centre, home to VOCES8.  The choir has also performed in Maidenhead and London. The 2016 programme includes concerts in April in London, May in Dartmouth and October in Germany.

The choir has also had the pleasure of working alongside Paul Patterson on a number of musical works, which has been a valuable experience and has led to the addition of three fantastic pieces to the choir’s repertoire. We hope to continue working alongside Paul in the future.

http://www.invictalondon.co.uk

About the Women of the World Concert series

Equator Festival launched the Women of the World concert series in 2007, with the simple aim of promoting female performers  from all music genres, from all over the world.  Each year Equator showcases the best in female performers, musicians and songwriters.  Over the last nine years the WOW series has presented music from Africa, Eastern-Europe, Middle East, India, Australia and the UK.  The performances have included everything from choirs to solo performers, works you have heard before and new commissions.  Previous performers include: Beyounes Quarter, Commander-in-Chief, Hannah Marcinowicz, Ignite Ensemble, London Bulgarian Choir, London Klezmer Quartet, London Tango Trio, Monica Vasconcelos, Oclay Bayir, Shallu Jindal and Shiva Nova

WOW 2016: Roots Revolution by Deepa Nair Rasiya

Deepa Nair Rasiya takes her audience on a voyage exploring poetry and music within the realm of the mystic traditions of the subcontinent. Seeking to unravel, through music, the profound meaning in the poetic lyrics of the Saints and Philosophers over the centuries, this journey embraces a comprehensive spectrum of musical styles – from traditional hindustani classical vocal music to semi classical, folk and cross-genre fusion, to best communicate the emotion and the messages presented; Deepa’s vocals are complemented by instrumental accompaniment from some of the UK’s finest musicians, all from a diverse range of musical and cultural backgrounds.

The project endeavours to provide glimpses into the Sufi and Bhakti movements and also to explore some of the lighter styles of North Indian music, mainly Thumri, Bhajan and Folk, employing instrumental arrangement styles to make it contemporary, current and accessible musically. Spiritual love and the search for meaning in human existence remain the enduring themes throughout.

Deepa Nair Rasiya lead vocals
Nim Kaur piano, support vocals
Graham Garside guitar
Manjeet Singh Rasiya tabla
Ustad Surjeet Singh Aulakh sarangi
Dan Garcia hand percussion

About Deepa Nair Rasiya

A singer and songwriter, born in London, Deepa Nair Rasiya’s South Indian heritage took her musical journey, initially, to the orthodox Carnatic traditions of Indian vocal training (at the age of 5). In her teenage years, she explored the field of Western classical music, studying music at GCE level and taking up Violin training in which she accomplished Distinctions up to Grade 6 level.
Although anchored in her South Indian roots, Deepa became increasingly drawn to the Hindustani (North Indian) classical tradition. In 2010 she became a disciple of Pandita Veena Sahasrabuddhe and has also received Khayal guidance from Shri Mukul Kulkarni. Deepa’s present day style is a unique blend of the Northern and Southern approaches to vocal technique, which has earned her an unrivalled place amongst the female Indian vocal artistes of the UK today.
Deepa has worked as a concert performer and session musician in the UK since 1991 and has, in the last decade, emerged also as a prolific composer. Deepa’s vocals have featured on numerous albums across the globe – notably, her recordings with: George Harrison and Pandit Ravi Shankar in the album ‘Chants of India’ (1996), the Japanese Band ‘Chari Chari’ in the album ‘In Time’ (2001/2); Jose Padilla in ‘Bella Musica’ (2003); Craig Pruess in ‘Temple of Spice’ (2002) and ‘Language of Love’ (2003); Bollywood music director Anu Malik in ‘Eyes’ (1994) and the Buddha Bar compilations such as Maja Cantoma (BB –X) – to name a few.
Deepa’s vocals have also featured on British film background scores and TV adverts – her film work includes hits such as ‘Bhaji on the Beach’, Bride and Prejudice’ and ‘Mistress of Spices’.
In 2006, Deepa released her debut solo album, ‘Into the Light’ – her first offering as a fully-fledged Indian composer/songwriter and vocalist,  recorded and produced by Craig Pruess in England and released under the label ‘Heaven- on-Earth Music’.
Deepa’s ceaseless composing work continued; in 2012 she was signed to ‘Asli Music’, a Mumbai based record label, whose chief, KJ Singh produced her first single ‘Aa Pir Moreh’. She has now completed a brand new, ground-breaking, Sufi album titled ‘DESTINATION’, from which a stunning first single, ‘Ab Toh Jaag’, was released on 14 January 2015. Another video “Eh Tan Mera’ was released on her album launch on June 21st, 2015, World Music Day.

About the Women of the World Concert series

Equator Festival launched the Women of the World concert series in 2007, with the simple aim of promoting female performers  from all music genres, from all over the world.  Each year Equator showcases the best in female performers, musicians and songwriters.  Over the last nine years the WOW series has presented music from Africa, Eastern-Europe, Middle East, India, Australia and the UK.  The performances have included everything from choirs to solo performers, works you have heard before and new commissions.  Previous performers include: Beyounes Quarter, Commander-in-Chief, Hannah Marcinowicz, Ignite Ensemble, London Bulgarian Choir, London Klezmer Quartet, London Tango Trio, Monica Vasconcelos, Oclay Bayir, Shallu Jindal and Shiva Nova

WOW 2016: Juan Martín and Amparo Heredia

Juan Martín and Amparo Heredia ‘La Repompilla’ started their collaboration with a concert in the Spanish city of Ronda six years ago and followed up to great acclaim with a recital in flamenco’s epicentre, Morón de la Frontera, Seville, in the Teatro Oriente. They have since toured in the UK, Belgium and Canada in Juan Martín’s dance company.

Last year Amparo Heredia won two first prizes in the prestigous Festival de la Minas de la Union and now this pure gypsy singer from Málaga is, with Juan Martín’s guitar, making the world sit up and take note of her explosive yet soulful expression.

About Juan Martín
Juan Martín will open the evening with his soulful Tarantas ‘Bordon Minero’, the song of the miners from Cartagena and Almeria whose chords and discordant sounds are amongst the most evocative in the whole of the flamenco guitar repertoire. He will also perform ‘La Chispa’ (The Spark), an Alegrias from the sparkling seaport of Cádiz which reflects the wit and grace of its people, the Gaditanos.

About Amparo Heredia
Amparo Heredia will sing her prize-winning Seguiriyas full of intense tragedy and the Tangos Morunos (Moorish influenced Tangos Flamencos) as well as her tour de force Granainas with its superb lyrical inflexions. Her Bulerias reflect her rhythmic gypsy genius inherited from her aunt ‘La Repompa de Málaga’ who even though she died in her twenties, became an enduring legend in the annals of flamenco as a singer and dancer; let’s hope the ‘duendes’ (divine inspirations) visit Amparo and that she dances a little ‘Por Fiesta’!

About the Women of the World Concert series

Equator Festival launched the Women of the World concert series in 2007, with the simple aim of promoting female performers  from all music genres, from all over the world.  Each year Equator showcases the best in female performers, musicians and songwriters.  Over the last nine years the WOW series has presented music from Africa, Eastern-Europe, Middle East, India, Australia and the UK.  The performances have included everything from choirs to solo performers, works you have heard before and new commissions.  Previous performers include: Beyounes Quarter, Commander-in-Chief, Hannah Marcinowicz, Ignite Ensemble, London Bulgarian Choir, London Klezmer Quartet, London Tango Trio, Monica Vasconcelos, Oclay Bayir, Shallu Jindal and Shiva Nova

WOW 2016: Ke Ma

Ke Ma was one of the finalists of the Hastings 2016 International Piano Concerto Competition and was awarded the 5th Prize in this prestigious event.

The concert will be a mix of classical and contemporary women composers, in addition to some influential male composers. The programme features Clara Schumann, Ruth Crawford, Chopin, Lili Boulanger, Amy Beach, Elliot Carter, Paul Patterson and Chen Yi.

Clara Schumann Prelude and Fugue in F sharp minor
Ruth Crawford Piano Study in Mixed Accent
Amy Beach Five Improvisations for piano, Op. 148
Chopin Two Nocturnes, Op. 27
Lili Boulanger D’un soir triste
D’un jardin clair
Elliott Carter Caternaries
Paul Patterson Hastings Toccata
Chen Yi Duo Ye

About Ke Ma

Born in 1994, Ke is currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music with Professor Christopher Elton in a Master degree. Most recently, Ke won the first prize in the 18th Concours International de Piano de la ville de Maisons-Laffitte, in France.

She was introduced to the piano at the age of three by her grandfather and father, and quickly reached an accomplished level; at five years old she won second prize at the prestigious Xiwangbei piano competition in Beijing and subsequently went on to study with Professor Zhong Hui. In 2006, she began studies with Professor Galina Popova in the Xinghai Conservatory of Music. After a successful audition for the Morningside Music Bridge Festival in Canada, she started to attend masterclasses and gave performances in Poland and Canada. She has participated in masterclasses with many great pianists, including Angela Hewitt, Peter Frankl, Huang-kuan Chen, John Perry, Pascal Devoyon, Joanna MacGregor, Yevgeny Sudbin, Boris Berman, Arie Vardi and Imogen Cooper.

Ke has won several prizes, both external and internal including the Harriet Cohen Bach Prize, the Harold Craxton Prize and the Masie Lewis Young Artists Fund, she was also highly commended for the Sternadle Bennett Prize. In 2012 she received 3rd place at the Ettlingen International Piano Competition in Germany. In 2015, she won the Shenzhen International Piano Concerto Competition in China and later received the Prince’s Award from the Worshipful Musicians’ Company. The fifth place in the Hastings Piano Concerto Competition in Britain, 2016

Ke has appeared as a soloist with many different orchestras and conductors including, Christian Ehwald, Daye Lin, Nigel Wilkinson, Qiyuan Zhu, Uros Lajovic and Brian Wright. And she collabrated with some Chinese major orchestras and Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra in Hastings. Later this year, she is invited to perform with Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra under the baton of James Blair on 28th Sepetember.

Besides her solo practice, she also plays a lot of chamber music. Last year, Ke made her duo debut recital alongside British violist Timothy Ridout in Wigmore Hall that was supported by Kirckman Concert Society.

Ke is most generously supported by the Leverhulme Trust, the Edward Mandel Bursary, Mr John Burgess, the Steinway & Sons Scholarship, the Ian Fleming Award from Help Musician UK Postgraduate Award 2016/2017, the Tillett Trust and Music scholarship from Liechtenstein Music Academy.

http://www.kemapianist.com

About the Women of the World Concert series

Equator Festival launched the Women of the World concert series in 2007, with the simple aim of promoting female performers  from all music genres, from all over the world.  Each year Equator showcases the best in female performers, musicians and songwriters.  Over the last nine years the WOW series has presented music from Africa, Eastern-Europe, Middle East, India, Australia and the UK.  The performances have included everything from choirs to solo performers, works you have heard before and new commissions.  Previous performers include: Beyounes Quarter, Commander-in-Chief, Hannah Marcinowicz, Ignite Ensemble, London Bulgarian Choir, London Klezmer Quartet, London Tango Trio, Monica Vasconcelos, Oclay Bayir, Shallu Jindal and Shiva Nova

WOW 2016: The Furrow Collective supported by Holloway School Girls Band

The Furrow Collective were described by The Guardian as ” a bleakly charming and intriguing curiosity”.

The four members of this much loved folk band, also write and perform individually and with other bands and are well-known on the British folk scene.  This variety means that their songs as part of The Furrow Collective are a mixture of a range of different musical styles.

Alasdair Roberts, Emily Portman, Lucy Farrell and Rachel Newton are four fine soloists sharing a mutual love of traditional songs, from both sides of the English and Scottish borders, with playful, boundary-defying musicianship. Since their critically acclaimed debut At Our Next Meeting, The Furrow Collective has been in demand as a touring band, gigging throughout Europe and performing BBC live sessions.Hot on the heels of two BBC Folk Award nominations, they have released an outstanding five track EP Blow out the Moon last autumn, coinciding with touring, offering a tempting taster of their next album.

Each band member leads a song, moving with ease from jaunty stories of ailing horses, to poignant laments and sparsely adorned supernatural ballads. Blow Out the Moon culminates with the beautiful title track, a lullaby in spine-tingling four-part harmony. Strikingly unaffected vocals are accompanied by harp, guitar, viola, concertina, piano, banjo, fiddles and musical saw. Blow Out the Moon reflects the breadth of Furrow Collective’s diversity whilst showing a crystallisation of their unique sound. It gives a taste of great things to come with the release of their single ‘Wild Hog in the Woods’ out in March and the second full length album arriving later on in 2016.

About The Furrow Collective

Emily Portman
Emily Portman is a singer, writer and concertina player originating from Glastonbury and hailed ‘one of the new British folk scene’s most beguiling presences’ (Uncut).  Emily is the 2013 holder of the BBC Radio Two Folk Award for Best Original Song; an accolade which reflects her power to lure listeners into a complex and darkly surreal netherworld, conjuring a dark and brooding realm. Her ethereal voice and her trio’s enchanting harmonies belie a world of dark storytelling, cruel deeds and sordid city landscapes, part inspired by traditional balladry and part by a rich literary sources, from the myth of Leda and the Swan to the magical realism of Angela Carter.

Alasdair Roberts
Alasdair Roberts is a musician based in Glasgow.  He is primarily a singer, acoustic finger-style guitarist, writer/composer of new songs and interpreter of traditional songs and ballads.  He has a long-standing relationship with Drag City Records, which has released several albums of his work since 1997.  In addition to his collaboration with Emily, Rachel and Lucy in The Furrow Collective, he often performs and records both solo and as part of the musical group known as Alasdair Roberts & Friends. More information about Alasdair and his activities can be found on his personal website, here.

Lucy Farrell
Lucy Farrell began lulling the folk scene with her rich and honeyed voice when she left her Kent home to study the Folk and Traditional Music course in Newcastle in 2004. Since then, her exploration of traditional and contemporary song has touched the hearts of audiences well beyond the folk world, her beguiling and crystal clear singing style crafting stories with spellbinding skill. Her talent for songwriting is also gaining recognition; her melancholic and heartbreaking To The Boy, which she recorded with duo partner Jonny Kearney on The North Farm Sessions EP, featured in Ian Fitzgibbon’s 2011 film Death of a Superhero. With Kearney, Farrell has been nominated for two BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. A versatile musician on fiddle, viola, and musical saw, Farrell is in popular demand as a session player, and can be seen and heard performing regularly in The Emily Portman Trio.

Rachel Newton
Rachel Newton, singer, harpist and fiddle player with The Shee and The Emily Portman Trio, is a highly sought-after musician, known for her prowess on the acoustic and the electric harp and her singing in both Gaelic and English. Nominated for ‘Album of the Year’ in Scots Trad Music Awards, Newton’s debut ‘The Shadow Side’ showcases Rachel’s own compositions alongside an original selection of ballads and contemporary songs and her bold follow up ‘Changeling’ was described as ‘the sound of modern Scotland’ by The Herald. Rachel performs with her own trio featuring Lauren MacColl on fiddle and Mattie Foulds on percussion and collaborates on various projects, including Norwegian group Boreas and The Elizabethan Session.

About the Women of the World Concert series

Equator Festival launched the Women of the World concert series in 2007, with the simple aim of promoting female performers  from all music genres, from all over the world.  Each year Equator showcases the best in female performers, musicians and songwriters.  Over the last nine years the WOW series has presented music from Africa, Eastern-Europe, Middle East, India, Australia and the UK.  The performances have included everything from choirs to solo performers, works you have heard before and new commissions.  Previous performers include: Beyounes Quarter, Commander-in-Chief, Hannah Marcinowicz, Ignite Ensemble, London Bulgarian Choir, London Klezmer Quartet, London Tango Trio, Monica Vasconcelos, Oclay Bayir, Shallu Jindal and Shiva Nova

WOW 2016: Ethereal World: Flights of Ecstasy

Ethereal World is a mix of brilliant cross-cultural jazz and classical musicians producing an array of global improvisations. The line-up features Laura Moody (guest artist – cello), Filomena Campus (guest artist – voice), Jackie Walduck (vibraphone), Rowland Sutherland (flutes), Nubya Garcia and Cath Roberts on saxes, John Edwards on bass.

Programme highlights include celestial offerings from Rowland Sutherland, a new collaboration from Jackie Walduck and Sardinian vocalist Filomena Campus, and finally Priti Paintal’s haunting Circles of Fire.

About Ethereal World

Led by Rowland Sutherland and Jackie Walduck, Ethereal World is both a music club night and an ensemble that features brilliant soloists known for their commanding performances in cross-cultural jazz, free improvisation, experimental and contemporary classical music.

About Jackie Walduck

Jackie is a composer and vibraphone player, whose work explores the exchanges between written and improvised music and the musicians that create it.  ​She works with classical, contemporary and jazz musicians from beginner to professional, and collaborates with dancers, artistis  and film-makers in a range of contexts to create new work.

In 2008 she formed Ignite with Wigmore Hall Learning a new type of chamber ensemble, working through improvisation.
About Rowland Sutherland

Flautist Rowland Sutherland enjoys an international career in many different fields of music. He regularly performs in new music and classical ensembles, jazz groups, symphony orchestras, various non-Western groups, pop outfits and as a soloist. Many of Rowland’s solo contemporary flute performances have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, London. He has composed and arranged music for groups, ensembles and for the BBC.

Composition commissions include those written for the percussion quartet “Ensemble Bash” and the contemporary music group “New Music Players”. In 2003 The New Music Players released a special recording of commissions by British composers called Crying Bird, Echoing Star on the London Independent Records label which includes Rowland’s composition Timeless Odyssey.
Rowland was commissioned by the worldly, contemporary classical ensemble “Lontano” for his work Espiritu Libre, which received its first performance at La Linea, the London Festival of Latin Music 2005 at the South Bank Centre. They also performed Rowland’s new version for gospel choir and ensemble of his work The Mystical Land, during the ensembles 30th Anniversary concert series 2006.
Rowland’s piano trio One for Hermeto was given its world premiere by the Fidelio Trio for whom it was written for. The event took place during the BMIC’s The Cutting Edge 2005 series at The Warehouse, in London.

About the Women of the World Concert series

Equator Festival launched the Women of the World concert series in 2007, with the simple aim of promoting female performers  from all music genres, from all over the world.  Each year Equator showcases the best in female performers, musicians and songwriters.  Over the last nine years the WOW series has presented music from Africa, Eastern-Europe, Middle East, India, Australia and the UK.  The performances have included everything from choirs to solo performers, works you have heard before and new commissions.  Previous performers include: Beyounes Quarter, Commander-in-Chief, Hannah Marcinowicz, Ignite Ensemble, London Bulgarian Choir, London Klezmer Quartet, London Tango Trio, Monica Vasconcelos, Oclay Bayir, Shallu Jindal and Shiva Nova

The Big Lunch

The Big Lunch is a very simple idea from the Eden Project. The aim is to get as many people as possible across the whole of the UK to have lunch with their neighbours annually in June in a simple act of community, friendship and fun.

Since starting in 2009, thousands of Big Lunches have taken place in all types of communities. In 2015, 7.29 million people took to their streets, gardens and community spaces for the seventh annual Big Lunch.

This year we coincide Folkestone’s Big Lunch with Folkestone Creative Quarter’s Open Quarter!

Join us for our second Payers Park Big Lunch!

If you are interested in helping to make it happen, email info@quarterhouse.co.uk