¡VAMOS Festival highlights include:
Major outdoor carnival commission Keep Your Hat On with musician Arto Lindsay on the River Wear in Durham in collaboration with Brass: Durham International Festival.
Commissions with Latin American artists; Peruvian Ximena Garrido-Lecca at mima, Middlesbrough and Venezuelan artist Jaime Gili responding to Tynemouth Station, North Tyneside as part of the Cultural Olympiad.
UK premiere and only UK showing of Complicidades: Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera at The Bowes Museum County Durham
UK Premiere of Peruvian docu-photography exhibition by collective Supayfotos
UK Premiere of Heleno, a big budget film about the 1940s Brazilian football star.
European Premiere of El Inca, la Boba y el Hijo de Ladron, a road movie showing an innovative take on contemporary Peru.
Official launch on 1 June at Newcastle University with Cuban violinist Omar Puente, Colombian group Los Independientes del Vallenato, DJs, dance classes and a retrospective exhibition of photography from ¡VAMOS! Festival 2006-11.
New location for ¡VAMOS! Outdoor Picnic at Summerhill Bowling Club, Newcastle with Afro-Andean group Lokandes
Return of the Tyne Carnival where members of the public can join in with music, dance and procession along Northumberland Street, Newcastle on Saturday 30th June.
The Stand hosts an afternoon Terrace party after the Tyne Carnival, and late night Latin party with Cuban musician Domingo Candelario and Carnival acts, plus free afternoon film programme.
¡VAMOS Festival extends to County Durham to the first time.
The programme features the UK premieres of visual art exhibitions and films, Latin American artists commissions as part of the celebration of the Cultural Olympiad, performances by leading Latin DJs and musicians, a large scale Tyne Carnival procession with the general public in the centre of Newcastle, talks, language cafes and workshops.
The Bowes Museum hosts the UK premiere and only UK showing of Complicidades: Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, a photographic exhibition documenting the unconventional and tempestuous 25 year relationship between leading Mexican artists Kahlo and Rivera against the political events of early 20th century Mexico. The 36 images show the couple’s lives and work, their relationship with the exiled Trotsky, their political activism and fights for workers’ rights, and their defense of national values and Mexican culture. The exhibition is on display at The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle from Saturday 12 May to Saturday 24 June 2012, with a Mexican Fiesta day on 16 June.
American artist, musician and composer, Arto Lindsay will stage a carnival riverboat procession along the river Wear in Durham. Entitled Keep Your Hat On in homage to maverick artist Flávio de Carvalho who studied at Durham University in the 1920s, Lindsay will work with the Ferryhill Town Band, Hannabiell Sanders and Tin Arts and will even include his own hecklers along the river bank. This brand new commission is a first time collaboration between ¡VAMOS! Festival and Brass: Durham International Festival, and one of three artists commissions within ¡VAMOS! which are part of the Cultural Olympiad, having been awarded the Inspire Mark.
¡VAMOS! Festival Co-Director Nik Barrera said
“¡VAMOS! Festival’s visual arts programme is especially strong this year and we are delighted to have been able work with renowned Mexican curator Pablo León de la Barra to commission three leading Latin American artists, and with partners mima in Middlesbrough, North Tyneside Council and Durham County Council, the organiser of BRASS: Durham International Festival, as part of the celebration of the Cultural Olympiad.”
The other artists commissions are new work by Peruvian artist Ximena Garrido-Lecca alongside her video exploring the annual Toropukllay celebration in highland Peru, at mima, Middlesbrough and Venezuelan artist Jaime Gili responding to Tynemouth Station, North Tyneside.
Other exhibitions within the festival include work by Colombian Herman Angarita Ortiz at Gateshead Central Library and the Clipperton Project at New Bridge Studios Annex showings the responses from 20 artists and scientists after they visited an uninhabited atoll off the Mexican coast, in March 2012, aiming to create a new multidisciplinary dialogue between the arts and sciences which might influence some of the common, global problems which affect us today. The various events presented by The Clipperton Project include exhibitions and talks by Naim Manzanilla Rahal (photographer, Mexico), Jon Bonfiglio (writer, UK), Katherine Dunlop (marine biologist, UK) and Charles Engebretsen (sculptor, UK).
In Boomba Down The Tyne, the Lawnmowers Independent Theatre Company and Opaxoro Dance Company, explore the similarities of life in NE England with NE Brazil using dance, music, song and Commedia Dell’Arte, and is also part of the Cultural Olympiad.
Alison Clark-Jenkins, Regional Director, Arts Council England said:
“Arts Council have supported ¡VAMOS! Festival since 2006, and the festival has gone from strength to strength since then. ¡VAMOS! has a history of brave and exciting programming and this year’s festival is no exception. The Arts Council is proud to support engaging even bigger audiences this year in a celebration of Spanish and Portuguese speaking cultures across the region.”
¡VAMOS! Festival officially launches on 1 June with an opening event at Newcastle University with Cuban violinist Omar Puente, Colombian group Los Independientes del Vallenato, DJs, dance classes and a retrospective exhibition of photography from ¡VAMOS! Festival 2006-11. A programme of talks will take place at Newcastle University and an accompanying film programme at The Stand.
Newcastle University’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ella Ritchie, said:
“¡VAMOS! Festival brings an international dimension to the life of the city that resonates strongly with the University’s own aims. We are very happy to be supporting the programme again in this year, and to be hosting the launch of the Festival on 1 June.”
A strong Peruvian focus to the programme includes the UK Premiere of a documentary photography exhibition at the Biscuit Factory, Newcastle by SUPAYFOTOS. The collective met as photo journalists in Lima and use photography as a tool for investigation, interpretation and diffusion of their own ever changing culture. Their work has won numerous international photography prizes including the National Geographic Photography All Roads Prize 2011, exhibited around the world and published in international newspapers including the New Yorker, Time and El Mundo. The special exhibition preview on 12 June is followed by a Peruvian feast by David Kennedy’s Food Social. The Tyneside Cinema will host the European Premiere of El Inca, la Boba y el Hijo de Ladron, a road movie showing an innovative take on contemporary Peru.
Patricia Oliart, ¡VAMOS! Festival Co-Director, said:
“Latin America is experiencing an effervescence of creativity in all the arts. We are very pleased to include in ¡VAMOS! 2012 a few examples from Peru showing a renewed and daring visual language to deal with difficult issues with lucid humor and hope”.
Theatre Royal Studio presents The Blade of Xorro on Monday 11th to Wednesday 13th June, 7:30pm. Can our masked hero defend the poor and save the beautiful Señorita? Join The Radio Revellers who perform this classic caper in the style of a 1930s radio play. The 10 July sees a double bill of events at The Stand Comedy Club; performances in From India to Spain explore the influence of Indian diaspora in southern Spain on Flamenco music, in a co-commission with GemArts. El Libertador is monologue performance based on Simon Bolivar’s speeches and ambitions, written by festival director Nikolas Barrera.
The Tyne Carnival, delivered by Rumba NE, Musicando and ¡VAMOS! Festival returns bringing music, dance and procession to the centre of Newcastle on Saturday 30th June. Members of the public can join a carnival troupe to be part of the procession learning music and dance for the Carnival in rehearsals on Saturdays May 26, June 9, June 23, email [email protected] to find out more. This year it finishes with a parade finale, in which Carnival participants and public can join in a lunchtime terrace party, with a BBQ, music and dancing, open to all. And in the evening join in the Latin takeover of The Stand with Cuban musician Domingo Candelario and many of the carnival acts in a party until 3am. Ximena Cordova, one of the organizers of the Carnival will also be giving a talk on 28 June as part of the series at Newcastle University, about training to become a dance performer, as part of her PHD research, at one of the most colourful and exciting Carnivals in the world, the Oruro Carnival in Bolivia.
The UK PREMIERE of a big Brazilian film release about Rio’s football legend Heleno staring leading Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro, is part of a season of films inspired by football, screening at the Star and Shadow Cinema.
Last year’s sell out Peña Flamenca returns to Dance City with a hot new selection of young Spanish Flamenco performers and Newcastle Flamenco Collective, with a daytime programme of dance, percussion and guitar workshops and evening performances.
The popular ¡VAMOS! Picnic returns on Saturday 9 June with a new location of Summerhill Bowling Club, Newcastle, and live music from Afro-Andean group Lokandes, and stalls with Latin American cuisine. Language cafés during the festival will allow native speakers and newcomers to chat or learn Spanish and Portuguese.
Other highlights include Los Charlys Orchestra bringing their Latin Dance Party to The Sage Gateshead on 7 July blending boogie-disco sounds of the 70s with a seriously Latin perspective. Burundamix Carnival Party offer an alternative Jubilee party at Dynamix Skate Park on 4 June, Viva La Duce Salsa and Kizomba Fiesta features popular Latin band Fuego on 7 June, Finders Keepers record label’s Doug Shipton playing his favourite b-sides at Todo el Mundo at the Butterfly Cabinet on 8 June, Hannabiell and Midnight Blue present an Afro-Carnival Masquerade at Hoults Yard on 9 June, the 2nd Latin Dance Experience returns on 16 June, and a Zumba NEON afternoon and afterparty Apu Viene Con Fuego on Saturday 23 June.
¡VAMOS! Festival has been granted the Inspire mark by the London 2012 Inspire programme, awarded to innovative and exceptional projects conveying the spirit of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Seb Coe, Chair of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games said:
“¡VAMOS! Festival is encouraging people of the North East to fulfill their potential. I am proud that with the help of partners such as ¡VAMOS! Festival we are delivering our vision to use the power of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games to boost participation in celebrating and understanding Spanish and Portuguese speaking cultures.’’
For information pick up a festival programme or see www.vamosfestival.com or read an online version http://bit.ly/JiENXO. To get updates throughout the festival sign-up for the ¡VAMOS! newsletter, join the ¡VAMOS! Facebook group http://tinyurl.com/vamosfestival or follow @VAMOS_Festival on twitter.
For media inquiries, images & interviews contact:
Cait Read 07811 320447 [email protected]
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