Winscombe community festival of Arts and sustainability
19th July 2025 12.00-18.00 Winscombe Community Centre and Green
We are planning an exciting pilot this year, of a Bi-annual, intergenerational community festival of Arts, Culture and Sustainability in Winscombe, North Somerset.
The festival will bring exciting and vibrant activities and performances to the community of Winscombe and surrounds, celebrating the locale, and forming and strengthening intergenerational relationships, through song, visual arts, theatre and food.
This year we are programming a series of festival arts workshops and a pop-up choir in the run up to the festival. There will be workshops in giant puppet making, masks, carnival costume and decor, all run from 2 local homes for the elderly, Winscombe Hall and Sandford Station Retirement Village. We want to bring people of all ages together to create, make friends and have fun! We will also be delivering this workshop series to 2 refugee homes, 3 local schools, a nursery, a mother and baby group as well as other community groups, such as The Scouts and The Brownies.
Our Art Club will be creating an interactive installation using sculpture and creative tech tool Spokeboard to explore the ideas of community and sustainability which will be installed at Winscombe Community Centre for the public to explore. We are also creating a 50 foot Mural on The Strawberry Line alongside a public consultation, and there will be community painting days to get involved with in the run up to the festival.
On the day there will be environmental arts and crafts to have a go at, like seasonal wreath and crown making, bug hotels, stick bread and herb-hair-heads to get families learning about sustainability and local worldlife, as well as learning to grow and cook their own food!
There will be a parade of giant puppets for families to join, performances from local choirs all topped off by a village feast, served from our community kitchen at Winscombe Community Centre. We might even have some dancing!
In the future, we would like to invite local professional theatre companies, local musical talent and local food businesses to come together to celebrate the talents of the region and make Winscombe a destination for arts, culture and community spirit.
Intergenerational work seeks to create a wider understanding of one another through connections, friendships, learning and research…
Artwork by year 6 Art club member
The retaining wall we will be creating The Strawberry Line Society commissioned Mural upon.
The festival will be an exciting programme of:
A Mural project, created alongside a public consultation & commissioned by Strawberry Line Society
A public installation using creative technology to turn sculpture into an interactive art experience, created by Art Club students and supported by Daniel Birch, one of Somerset Films creative technologists.
12 pop-up choir rehearsals at Winscombe Hall care home, and Sandford Station retirement village for residents & public.
12 classes in crafts, creating costumes, puppets & masks, at Winscombe Hall care home, and Sandford Station retirement village, & 5 more classes in 2 local refugee accommodations, supported by Trigger
6 classes in parade puppet making in Winscombe and Sandford Primary Schools, Churchill Academy & at our Art Club
A community parade of giant puppets along The Strawberry Line from our Mural to Winscombe Community centre
Performances by our pop-up choir & 3 invited local choirs
Local Wildlife charities invited to install stands about their work
Performance of an excerpt from our new show, The Food Show
Environmental arts workshops on the day in seasonal wreath and crown making, Insect Hotels, Herb-Hair-Heads and Stick Bread
A Village Feast, served from our community kitchen, hosted by Winscombe Community Centre
…Connections between the generations have been proven to reduce loneliness in older people, evoke feelings of joy and happiness, and uproot stigmas caused by ageism.
Melissa Pollard - Alive Activities
Sarah White - Co- Producer
Sarah is a producer based in the South West. She is passionate about creating engaging and exciting theatre experiences and working with young people and communities to foster creativity and confidence.
In 2013 she co-founded immersive, site-specific theatre company Four of Swords, producing and performing in all 11 shows while partnering with organisations such as English Heritage, National Trust, Exeter RAMM, Exeter Cathedral, Exeter, Plymouth, Marjon and Cambridge Universities.
She is an Associate Artist with Exeter Phoenix & produces their Summer Film School, taking it to Shanghai in 2018. She has also worked as Associate Producer for Devon based companies Common Players and Links to A Life.
Alice Cunningham - Co-Lead Artist for Mural Project
Alice is a visual artist with a diverse practice working with a breadth of materials, renowned for her sculptural carvings and work in social engagement. Alice is equally passionate about concept and materiality in her artwork. She has exhibited widely throughout the UK and internationally.
Alice’s portfolio includes a myriad of significant commissions, from site-specific artworks in Amiens (France), Vittorio Veneto (Italy), Weston Super Mare and Stoke on Trent, (UK) to permanent sculptures in Trinity Arts Centre, Bristol and a new commission alongside Richard Long for the Royal West of England Academy’s recent Earth: Digging Deep in British Art 1781-2022. Each commission reflects a narrative interwoven with personal experience, site response and environmental consciousness.
Jannah Warlow - Choir Leader
I am a freelance performer and singing leader based in Bristol. My work is firmly rooted in live theatre, with singing and voice at its core. I have worked extensively as an actor, musician, devisor, singer, musical director, choir leader and workshop facilitator with both international and Bristol-based companies.
As an independent practitioner, I run community choirs and singing workshops in my local area. I am co-founder of In Our Hands theatre company. We create theatre with rigour, discipline and humour, that explores the meeting point between physical theatre and the voice.
The Community Project Creative Team
Tomasin Cuthbert - Artistic Director and Lead-Artist
A multi disciplinary artist, Tomasin’s skills span design, illustration, puppet making, storytelling, performance and puppetry as well as producing and running the company single-handedly. She is passionate about making high quality work which surprises and pleases, reminding adults of the magic of play and imagination, and encouraging children to explore, discover and create. Her performance style explores the relationship between puppet and puppeteer, fusing expressive human performances, detailed puppetry and above all lots of humour! She has designed and/or made puppets, or been a puppetry mentor, for numerous companies including Stuff and Nonsense, Sixth Sense theatre, White Horse, the Bristol Old Vic, The Bristol Old the BOV Theatre School and the BOV young company.
Daniel Birch - Creative Technologist
Music composer, sound artist and workshop facilitator, looking to further engage with communities and empower individuals by sharing my passion in using Creative and Digital Technology to harness new opportunities and approaches in creating, experiencing and sharing great art.
Nick Jannaway - Composer
Nick is a singer, sound designer and multi-instrumentalist based in Bristol. He performs with Sarah Owen in folk/electronic duo solarference, writes and performs solo, and specialises in theatre sound design with a live electronic improv element.
Liz Felton - Director of The Food Show
With over 25 years working in the world of theatre, Liz has made her mark specialising in devised production and the writing of beautiful family theatre experiences. Her ability to extrapolate the very best from her actors by allowing truth and personality to help shape the piece, makes every project a unique journey to the finish. She is very comfortable with large cast, energetic, ensemble productions and often directs performances written by herself. But she also has the experience of directing work written by others and shaping work devised by the company.
