The idea
It will be an opportunity for different communities to showcase their culture and heritage through music, dance, arts, crafts, storytelling, and food. Due to lockdown, there has been very little engagement between communities and this will re-kindle that dialogue in an atmosphere of working together. This will start to build a sense of community, well-being and social cohesion within Ashford, besides being a focal point for everyone to come out and have a good time enjoying themselves while sampling different cultures, great food and making new friends.
Will you help us to make this event happen as a catalyst to bring the community together again. The first step in our long-term plan of setting up a permanent base for the community moving forward. As well as being a celebration, this event will help us spread the word and offer people the chance to get involved with our community projects over the coming year.
What we'll deliver
- Performances and events from artists and different community groups
- Art and craft workshops + dance workshops as part of the festival
- a Bollywood Bazaar, market stalls and Bollywood dancing for all to join in
Why it's a great idea
A multicultural festival will bring people together to enjoy and celebrate the arts and crafts of different minority groups. It would help to enliven the city centre of Ashford and would create more connections between different community groups, and the local population. The cultural events would enable more socialising amongst people, especially after a time when many minority and the elderly have had to shield or been isolated in their own homes. The high-quality cultural events that we organise would also bring in more people from surrounding areas and help increase footfall in the town centre and high street area. The city centre of Ashford is particularly decimated due to shops closing during the pandemic and with the new expanded Designer Outlet being a greater attraction it has become increasingly difficult to lure people into the city centre. Community initiatives like this will help to reverse this trend and increase community engagement and participation.
Steps to get it done
- Finalising Festival programme and artists and talking to community groups
- Confirming festival event teams, technical managers and equipment
- Promoting and publicising the Festival
- Launching the Festival weekend with events, stalls etc
- Monitoring and gathering data from community members and attendees
