‘Light before Christmas’ is a celebratory carnival experience for all ages that will be held on Saturday the 20th December where the main focus will be a lantern parade, made and paraded by children from local schools, from Bouverie Place Shopping Centre through the town and down to the Harbour Area. The schools will have been involved in artists led workshops that are to be run by professional artists from Fete Accompli who have worked on major events including the Canterbury Arts Festival. Fringe activities will coincide with the parade to include: a lively arts market that will include shops from The Old High Street, local art groups and individual artists, lighting displays, face painting, a large sculptural Christmas tree, a Christmas tree competition made from recycled materials and judged by the public, a choir, shop window theatre and street performances all performed by UCF Performing Arts students. The entire event will culminate in a firework display at the Harbour Site that will create a suitable spectacle to end the evening.
The organisers of this event are part of Tonic: Creative Business Project supported and funded by the Kent and Medway Lifelong Learning Network. Partners include: Canterbury Christ Church University, Kent University and University of the Creative Arts. www.creativebussinessproject.com
Enterprise and Innovation is an accredited course from the MBA at Canterbury Christ Church University and taught at the University Centre Folkestone. The Students have been briefed to plan, execute and evaluate a major publicity event to raise awareness about the vibrant Creative Quarter in Folkestone and to promote their own business. The project is mentored by university staff who provide administrative and creative support.
Benefactors of the Event
• Local schools, teachers and children taking part in the lantern making workshops
• Shops in the Creative Quarter including those taking part in the Arts Market and those that stay open late on the evening of the event.
• Local Community visiting and taking part in the event
• Local art groups and individual artists taking part in Arts Market
• Students from University Centre Folkestone that perform at the event
• Visual Arts students at UCF that take part in Master Classes at the University where a large lantern build for the parade will be created
• A local charity invited to make collections at the Harbour Area on the event night
• Local retail businesses in the vicinity of The Old High Street, Tontine Street, the Harbour Area (Ark Site) and those on the parade route where potential customers will visit.
• The University Centre Folkestone, businesses in the Creative Quarter, workshop artists, local artists and the organisers as a result of the increased public awareness and press coverage that the event will attract.
As the days get shorter and the evenings darker, the Light Before Christmas prepares to illuminate Folkestone’s Creative Quarter.
December will see an illuminated procession through the streets of Folkestone, down the old high street and into the harbour for a lively arts market. Illuminations, music and performances will entertain you on this festive evening. Fringe event in and around the Creative Quarter will take place in the run up to the event, including street performances, live window displays and more…
Brought to you by Tonic – a creative business project held at the University Centre Folkestone.
