More than just a name

2013 has been a period of transition for Hull’s Freedom Festival. As it entered its sixth year, the decision was taken to establish the festival as a limited company, set up with the specific purpose of developing the annual event. The three-day festival – funded by Hull City Council, Arts Council England and local sponsors − had grown out of bicentenary commemorations in Hull, in 2007, of William Wilberforce’s Act of Parliament which abolished the slave trade in the British Empire. ssThe centrepiece of Hull’s artistic and cultural programme, anchored in the old Fruit Market area in a spectacular waterfront setting, the festival has been enjoyed by tens of thousands of visitors each year, bringing diverse acts including La Compagnie Carabosse and Florence and the Machine to the city. Yet with a fresh start as a newly formed company, there was an opportunity and a significant task for Freedom Festival Limited to re-establish and re-emphasise the festival’s roots and reason.

The torch of freedom will continue to blaze, and we will never forget how or why

The key principle driving this year’s festival, which will be taken forward, is that it celebrates Hull’s independent spirit and historic contribution to the cause of freedom, through artistic and cultural expression. To underline the festival’s unique identity, we believe that ‘Freedom’ must be more than just its name and the concept should be consistently articulated throughout the festival content and supporting activities. In a world full of festivals, this is some ambition.

When we think of freedom we often think about constraints. Some constraints are obvious and of ongoing significance – absence of freedom of speech, dictatorship and slavery. These were examined in the opening event, which began with a torchlight procession of almost 1,000 people, including more than 650 volunteer torchbearers from the local community who represented Hull’s increasing diversity. The procession began at the city’s William Wilberforce Monument, past Wilberforce’s birthplace and Hull’s Mandela Gardens, arriving spectacularly into Hull’s Victoria Pier at the main festival site. There, we marked the fiftieth anniversary of Dr Martin Luther King’s civil rights speech by inviting poet Lemn Sissay MBE to read the speech in full – an ambitious attempt to place the political and philosophical context of freedom centre stage. It worked. 3,500 people stood and listened, and clapped and cheered appropriately to this stunning landmark rhetoric brought back to life. Prior to the speech the 1,000-strong group had halted for a minute’s silence; hushed streets full of Friday night revellers, held in quiet limbo by the strength of intent in the torchbearers who knew why they were there and what they were marking. These messages were also communicated via a more unusual medium: a sand writer machine that temporarily marked Dr Luther King’s famous words on the streets.

Other constraints are less obvious. Through the commission of Transe Express – and in particular the UK premiere of ‘Les Tambours de La Muerte’ (The Drums of Death) – new directors Walk the Plank unleashed a multitude of new ideas onto an unsuspecting audience. With no barriers, no constraints, and importantly no unspoken rules, the drummers made their way among the assembled crowd, the crowd becoming part of the performance. Processional work, like that of Transe Express, opens up the streets to people, not cars, and can turn wasteland into theatrical space − if only for one weekend.

The weekend finished with Freedom to Speak, a public debate held with Martin Chinga of Hull’s Black History Partnership, Lemn Sissay and Walk the Plank’s Liz Pugh. This was a discussion about freedom in a public forum, ending with plans on how to develop the concept further in the context of 2014’s festival. These discussions – as well as ongoing consultation with our advisory partners including Hull Amnesty Group and the Black History Partnership – will ensure that amidst the programming for all ages, the torch of freedom will continue to blaze, and we will never forget how or why.

Graham Chesters is Chair of the Freedom Festival Board.
www.freedomfestival.co.uk