Cleanfields – Dance music festival Creamfields has drawn up plans to massively reduce its impact on the environment. Festival organisers said its comprehensive three-year ‘Cleanfields’ plan will help to preserve its 600-acre site in Daresbury, Cheshire. They said the "primary goal" was to encourage attendees to "adopt more environmentally responsible habits" to ensure the site remains "clean and vibrant". A representative said the "call to action" would encourage the "entire dance music community [to] come together, enjoy the music and make a positive impact on our planet".
The festival is due to take place across the August bank holiday weekend and will see a host of acts perform, including headliners Calvin Harris, Armin Van Buuren, Chase & Status and Alesso. The event's representative said it was working with sustainability impact agency Betternotstop to enhance Creamfields’ "environmental impact" with a combination of a "dedicated Cleanfields campsite", a four-point pledge and on-site incentives.
They said the pledge would call on attendees to keep the campsite clean and remove their tents on departure, "minimise" what they bring with them, use public transport "whenever possible" and recycle materials on site.
Sky News - Media giant Sky is to launch an awards event celebrating excellence across the "full spectrum of artistic genres", including theatre, poetry and comedy. Philip Edgar-Jones, director of Sky Arts, said the awards were an antidote to a series of years in which the arts "have been devalued". The inaugural Sky Arts Awards will take place on 17 September at London’s the Roundhouse, with one category aiming to uplift the "unsung heroes" of the creative industries. The ceremony builds on the legacy of the South Bank Sky Arts Awards, which ran annually from 1997 to 2023.
Folk News - This year marks the 59th anniversary of the Cambridge Folk Festival, with the first one taking place in the grounds of Cherry Hinton Hall in the city in 1965. The four-day event - this year taking place from 25 to 28 July - regularly attracts about 14,000 fans.
The first Cambridge Folk Festival sold 1,400 tickets and just about broke even. A late addition to the bill that year was a young and relatively unknown Paul Simon, who had just released I Am A Rock. Organisers found out he was playing at a private party in the nearby village of Shelford and roped him in for a 30-minute set for the princely sum of £15.
Time Out - Adele has revealed she plans to take an extended break from music after her current run of concerts. "My tank is quite empty at the minute," the star told German broadcaster ZDF ahead of a 10-date residency in Munich. "I don’t have any plans for new music at all," she said. “I want a big break after all this and I think I want to do other creative things just for a little while.” She has spent the past two years playing a weekend residency in Las Vegas, recently completing her 90th show at the 4,000-capacity Caesar's Palace.
At-Risk - Long-time ‘at-risk’ theatre the Doncaster Grand has been bought at auction for £77,500. The 900-seat venue, which auctioneers say is in a state of disrepair, was sold with no reserve to a buyer who is yet to be named. It is unclear what the future holds for the Grade II-listed building, which has featured on the Theatres at Risk register since the list’s inception in 2006, but Theatres Trust representatives had expressed concerns about its sale.
Jon Morgan, Theatres Trust director, previously said the organisation was "disappointed" by the auction but has since expressed hope that the building’s new owner will work towards its regeneration.
Farewell - Disco singer Evelyn Thomas, whose powerful voice helped define the Hi-NRG scene of the 1980s, has died at the age of 70. The Chicago-born star scored an international hit with the 1984 single High Energy, which made the top five in the UK and topped the US club charts. Her death was announced by her producer Ian Levine on social media. “It is hard for me to accept that my lifelong protege really has left us,” he wrote, external. “Her music will outlive us all.” RIP.
(Jim Evans)
23 July 2024
