The idea
World in a Tent is a multicultural arts and community festival in Ashford.
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 and in an atmosphere of working together 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 and 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 in relation to the festival from artists and different community groups
- Art and craft workshops as part of the festival
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 would help to enliven the city centre of Ashford and would create more connections between different community groups, the shops and local population. The cultural events would enable more socialising amongst people especially at 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 high street area. The city centre of Ashford is particularly decimated due to further 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 high street area. Community initiatives like ours will help to reverse this trend and help to develop further events through the year.
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
