Polish Arts Festival

Each year the Polish Arts Festival takes place in multiple venues and locations in Southend-on-sea, Essex, UK. Dates vary slightly but activities will run from late August through to the first weekend in September.

This year’s Polish Arts Festival launched Southend-on-sea as the first Polish Cultural Training Ground. This means that Southend was bursting with mayhem and talent that celebrated the cultural links between the Thames Gateway region and its Polish twin in Sopot, and the region’s hosting of the mountain biking events during the London Olympics. The Festival launched schools’ dance workshops, artist residencies, new commissions, and ’ Polonaise on the Pier’, a dance event that will have it’s climax on Southend Pier on July 14, 2012, as part of Big Dance.

Highlights included Mira Hamermesh ‘In Conversation’ with Fay Weldon, Poznan-based Body Snatchers Theatre company doing roaming performances of The Cyclists, and Parade of Funny Faces, Deconstruction Project’s ‘Homeless Gallery’, artist Mila Lipowicz’s ‘virtual’ cycle ride around Sopot on the Southend seafront, Theatre Lalek’s childrens theatre workshops, and Once Upon a Deadline writing marathon - six Polish writers paired with UK writers at locations around Southend. Their task: to write a creative short story in a day that reflects their first impressions of Southend. Hungry Arts would like to thank everybody who helped to make this year’s Festival the success that it was.

We’re under starters orders for 2012 so watch this space closely for future developments...

A little bit of history about the Polish Arts Festival

The first Polish Arts Festival was held in Ipswich in 2008 and then found it’s home in Southend-on-Sea in 2009. It was developed and produced by Hungry Arts, Southend Borough Council, and the local Polish community. The aim is to celebrate the very best of Polish culture and art, to develop new international artistic collaborations, and to help nurture the special relationship between Southend-on-sea and Sopot. The Festival receives support from Southend Borough Council, The Polish Cultural Institute, and Arts Council England. We continue to work closely with many Polish arts organisations to develop new artistic conversations and projects for the future of the Festival.