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9:18 AM 11th July 2020
family

Calling All Young People With Big Dreams - THE BIG MALARKEY NEEDS YOU!

 
Are you a budding Kofi Smiles and want to be the face of an exciting new programme? Are you passionate about making changes in the world or your community? If you are, the Big Malarkey wants to hear from you.

As we emerge from lockdown and navigate the new post-Covid 19 normality, the makers and creators of The Big Malarkey Festival want to know what young people want to keep and lose from lockdown.

Hull’s annual family festival, sadly postponed to 2021 due to the lockdown, is proud to present The Reset Lab this September. Taking place as part of Freedom Festival’s online celebrations on 4-6 September, alongside a programme of talks, music, and spoken word broadcasts online and via the BBC, the Lab will bring a flavour of the Big Malarkey to Freedom Festival with its usual mix of stories and fun.

In a unique space, The Reset Lab will be an exciting programme for children and young people to dream, question and discover positive changes that will affect our post-COVID 19 future. An online space for discussion, discovery and skills sharing, meeting artists, scientists and makers of all kinds, the Lab will be live from Hull Libraries’ The Maker Space.

From workshops with award-winning illustrators and authors, to discussion and debate, The Reset Lab will explore what changes young people want to see in our post-pandemic world. What should we keep and what should we build back better?

The Big Malarkey team is now on the hunt for young people to be part of this new project to present the workshops, which will be broadcast live over the festival weekend.

Ellen Bianchini, The Big Malarkey Festival Director, said:

“The lockdown has demonstrated that creativity, self-expression and sharing ideas are a vital part of our wellbeing. Artists – writers, visual artists, makers, storytellers – are sources of hope, inspiration and creativity. We can all inspire each other to find a better future.

“Children are already living with the consequences of climate change and as we emerge from lockdown, where discussions have taken place about our wellbeing and the wellbeing of our planet, their views and ideas are crucial to discussions around Build Back Better.

“While we sadly had to postpone this year’s Big Malarkey Festival we’re really excited to be working with Freedom Festival and be part of their online celebrations over what would have been the festival weekend. Going online is all very new to us and although it won’t be the same experience as The Big Malarkey Festival, we hope it will still give a flavour of what the festival is like each June in Malarkey Park. Like Freedom, our festival aims to nurture local artistic talent as well as supporting the dreams and aspirations of our future generations.”

Mikey Martins, Artistic Director and Joint CEO of Freedom Festival Arts Trust, said:

“We’re big fans of The Big Malarkey and excited to be working with our good friends at Hull Libraries to present The Reset Lab.

“We take pride in the many ways we connect with communities, our internationalism and our ability to respond to what is happening in the world, producing a festival where audiences expect the unexpected. With notions of freedom having to be re-examined at this time and in the pioneering spirit of William Wilberforce, who inspired our festival, we’re excited to be creating an alternative programme that takes on those challenges.

“It’s a shame Freedom Festival 2020 won’t be taking place in the streets and squares of Hull as it has done for the past 12 years, but we’re excited to bring art and culture directly into peoples’ homes this September, through intimate, playful and thought-provoking experiences.”


More information about the Freedom Festival in your Home programme will be announced on 4 August.

If you’re aged 11–16 and interested in getting involved in the Reset Lab, send your details (name, age, school and one thing you want to keep from Lockdown) to:

hello@thebigmalarkeyfestival.com