CREATIVE HARBOROUGH LAUNCHES PUBLIC SPACE IN MARKET
HARBOROUGH FOR LOCAL ARTISTS TO PERFORM
Creative Harborough, the town’s philanthropic network of arts and cultural organisations and businesses, has worked with Harborough District Council and
Market Harborough and The Bowdens Charity to facilitate a busking initiative that aims to make it easier for local artists, and young performers especially, to share
their talent and animate the town.
Busking dates back to medieval times and is an important part of many performers’ lives. It can be a lifelong career but it is also a chance to develop audiences, hone skills, and try out new material.
This initiative removes barriers such as licensing and gives grassroots artists a gentle knee up to experiencing and developing their live performance skills. At the same time, our town and members of the public benefit from live entertainment.
Claire Webb from Creative Harborough says;
“We wanted to make it easy for anyone to have an opportunity to share their talent and creativity. Market Harborough and Bowdens Charity who own the Old
Grammar School, have supported the initiative by funding a PRS PPL music license and kindly permitting Creative Harborough to use the venue free of charge which means artists do not have to worry about infringing copyright on any covers they might perform. And the space is not just for musicians, we welcome dance and drama too. All participants have to do is book a slot.”
The inaugural session will be on the evening of Thursday 28th November coinciding with the town’s late night shopping event, when talent from local bands signed with Harborough’s very own record label, Somewhere Records, will play. From then on, there are two sessions per week with up to 20 slots available for performances.
Claire adds;
“The idea stems from the success of the live entertainment under the Old Grammar School at Creative Harborough’s launch event earlier this year. The audience loved the joy and colour it brought to the town centre and local businesses appreciated the additional footfall. “Our organisation’s aim is to help anyone in our town to be able to create or access creativity on a day to day basis. We will run the scheme for a year at least and will be asking for feedback from performers and audience members. And if people want more, we will then seek further funding to ensure the scheme’s continuity.”
Artists can find out more about the scheme or apply to perform in the space under the Old Grammar School by visiting Creative Harborough’s website
www.creativeharborough.org, where they will find simple rules of participation and a registration link to agree to a simple code of conduct.
Creative Harborough would like to thank Market Harborough and the Bowdens Charity for their generous donation and support of the project and Market Harborough District
Council for their advice and support.