A NEW festival was held in York over the weekend - showcasing local talent and a number of family workshops to bring people of the city together.

Organised by Make It York, with support from the City of York Council’s ARG funding, the programme of events for the new YorkLife Festival was curated with residents of the city in mind, supporting local talent in the area and bringing the 'festival feel' to York this spring.

The weekend included a programme of different family friendly workshops, as well as line-up of musical performances from the likes of The Howl and The Hum, Huge, Kitty VR, Bull and Wounded Bear.

Councillor Darryl Smalley, executive member for culture, leisure and communities at City of York Council, said: “YorkLife was an excellent way to celebrate our home-grown musicians and performers, particularly after what have been a challenging few years for us all.”

The main stage for the festival was located in Parliament Street, with an open viewing area that held a capacity of 500 people. The workshop and performance tent was put up at the end of Parliament Street, near St Sampson’s Square, and held up to 100 capacity. There was also a covered stretch tent, which held a York Gin bar and seating area. The stretch tent held a further 90 people, on a one-in-one-out policy.

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There was a full schedule of workshops throughout the weekend, from theatre to music. On Saturday (April 2), there were workshops including Drumming with Mark Barfoot, Storytelling with Mud Pie Arts, Thunk-it Theatre, The JORVIK Viking Takeover and Burning Duck Comedy Club.

Meanwhile, the following day on the Sunday (April 2), there were events including York Wire Skylines with Gemma, a Ukulele Workshop with Christian Topman, York Festival of Ideas, Say Owt Poetry Workshop and Beatboxing with Matty Groove.

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There were also all-day face painting sessions held across the weekend with Fantastic Faces. A range of 'Circus Workshops’ also took place throughout the weekend, including fun skill-building challenges such as unicycling, juggling and various other fun circus skills.

Sarah Loftus, managing director at Make It York said: “YorkLife is a celebration of local York talent and culture, from our street musicians to our local community groups. We wanted to really celebrate the sense of community in York and we encouraged residents to join the party and see some of the hottest talent York has to offer.”

YorkLife is organised by Make It York, with support from the City of York Council’s ARG funding - which aims to support businesses impacted by Covid-19.

Further details of the festival can be found on the Visit York website at: https://www.visityork.org/yorklife