Cosmopolitan Arts presents
COSMOPOLITAN ARTSFESTIVAL
BROADCASTING LIVE on SAT 9th & SUN 10th April 2022
Watch online or on our screens in Leicester City centre
A selection of LIVE PERFORMANCES & WORKSHOPS at The Clock Tower from 12-3pm on 9th/10th April
Also, visit our IMMERSIVE DIGITAL EXHIBITION in the Haymarket Shopping Centre from 15-20 April
A unique festival for Leicester,
combining live and digital arts
Cosmopolitan Arts Festival has been celebrating the wide cultural mix in Leicester through all art forms for 10 years now.
After the success of last year's digital festival, this year's event is once again taking place online, with artists' performances available to watch via Facebook, YouTube and Twitch, as well as on screens in the Haymarket Shopping Centre and at Beta X Gallery on Church Gate.
We also have a special audiovisual exhibition within the Haymarket Centre in Leicester City Centre, the festival's natural home.
We have booked a fantastic line up this year of local, national and international artists, performing music, dance, acrobatics, pyrotechnics and spoken word. There is something for everyone, as the event involves many different art forms, cultures and genres.
The festival will be broadcast from 11am til 7pm on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th April, and both days will end with our dazzling 'Cosmopolitan Spectacular' finale performance, which was filmed recently at Green Dragon Square in Leicester City Centre.
There will also be a selection of live perfomances at The Clock Tower on both days.
Line-up
See below for details of all performers
Saturday 9th April
11am - 7pm
Hosted by Kevin N’cube (BBC Radio Leicester)
John Berkavitch
Cosmopolitan Arts Young Peoples Project - Feeling Good
Cosmopolitan Arts Young Peoples Project - Four Seasons
Cosmopolitan Unity Project - Punjabi Community
Jesse Wright Band
Lilly Williams
DMU Big Band
Cosmopolitan Unity Project - Irish Community (Jackie Duffy)
Climate Song: Bhavan’s Vidya Mandir Eroor School (India)
Euphoria
Ffion Rebecca
Status Trio
Sushma Vala
Climate Song: Dar Al Marefa Private School (Dubai)
Strings of Fire - Jally Kebba Susso
Helder Delagado
K9
Natalie James
Kallirroi Vratti
Darien Prophecy & The Innerheart Band
Chinese New Year - Cosompolitan Arts and Traditional WUSHU
Radio Riddler
The COSMOPOLITAN ENSEMBLE present 'THE COSMOPOLITAN SPECTACULAR PERFORMANCE'
Sunday 10th April
11am - 7pm
Hosted by Kevin N'cube (BBC Radio Leicester)
Kaviraj Singh
Kallirroi Vratti
Sophia Dady
John Berkavitch
Cosmopolitan Arts Unity Project - Somali Community
Sushma Vala
Flynny O'Flynn
Cosmopolitan Arts Young Peoples Project - We Got Fire
Cosmopolitan Arts Young Peoples Project - I Like The Cold
Sarah Bird Band
Cosmopolitan Arts Unity Project - Malaysian Community
Lilly Williams
Indy Samra
'THE COSMOPOLITAN SPECTACULAR PERFORMANCE'
Spreadbury, D'sa and Hewick
Lilly Williams
King Brasstards
Cosmopolitan Arts Unity Project - Cameroonian Community
Helder Delagado
Jada O'Neill
Dreamscape Trio
Harri Georgio feat. Matt Bury & Charlie Georgio
Grupo X
DJ KMS
All sets will be broadcast on our Facebook, Youtube and Twitch channels and on screens at Beta X Gallery and the Haymarket Shopping Centre
Acts
Compere:
Kevin Ncube (BBC Radio Leicester)
Bands / Solo performers
Dance
Spoken word
COSMOPOLITAN UNITY PROJECT - 5 cultural group performances
Cosmopolitan Arts are delivering a three-year project working with 15 different cultural groups, 5 each year. We are focusing on cultural differences to find out how these communities feel that they are viewed and treated, through creating workshops, documentary and an academic report.
We delivered workshops to create performances that display each culture within the Cosmopolitan Arts Festival, to help breakdown barriers and promote better understanding and social harmony. This year we have been working with the Somali, Punjabi, Cameroonian, Malaysian and Irish communities. Throughout the two-day event you will see performance from these communities that have been put together during lockdown via Zoom sessions. A big thank you to the Big Lottery Fund for supporting this project.
COSMOPOLITAN YOUNG PERSONS PROJECT
During lockdown and throughout the summer holidays, we commissioned professional musicians and tutors to work with a group of young people from Highfields on a daily basis.
The young people created songs in response to being in lockdown, one is a song with a full ensemble of instruments and vocalists and the other is a rap song with a digital backing track. The participants wrote the lyrics, composed the music and performed.
A huge thank you to the funders Mighty Creatives, The Leicestershire Music Hub, and NYJO you have truly made a difference to these young people's lives.
The 'Cosmopolitan Spectacular'
The 'Cosmopolitan Spectacular' involves the best musicians and artists from Leicester. We compose, write and create new work, which is a fusion of many modern, traditional and world instruments, blending many genres and styles of music with jazz, with an exciting combined-arts approach, using large-scale mapped projection, animation, live music, songs, spoken word, light and dance.
This dazzling spectacular performance was filmed at Green Dragon Square especially for the event and is an astounding audio-visual treat. This year we have created a a piece that celebrates cultural diversity and looks at the issue of racism. This is a fully entertaining and immersive spectacular performance that is a feast for your eyes and ears. with fantastic lyrics and vocals from the enormously talented Jafro, the ultimate soulful diva Lisa Millet and fabulous wordsmith Mr Shay, as well as animation by Simeon Rice and dance from Jamal Sterrett Phoenix and Chica Bonita.
Providing the diverse musical landscape are:
Adrian Bissett - composer
Richard Everitt - tenor saxophone and composer
Andy Price - keyboard
David Anderson - drums
Stan Samuel - guitar
Ryan West - tenor saxophone
Gareth John - trumpet
Hari Trivedi - tabla
Amanda Leandro is the Producer and Art Director.
Live entertainment
As well as our streamed performances, we will be hosting a variety of live entertainment in the vicinity of the clock tower. This will include:
The Brasstards
Chinese Lion Dance
Chica Bonita dance troupe
Circus skills and stilt walking from Giggles Town
Can't Blame The Youth Community Group
9 + 10 APRIL, 12-3pm
Clock Tower, Leicester City Centre
Immersive Digital Art Exhibition
This is a bespoke performance has been created for this event and a breathtaking interactive immersive audio-visual exhibition experience, using animation, projection, lighting, dance, acrobatics and music.
Based within a shop on the ground floor of the Haymaket shopping centre from 15th April, this one-off experience is totally free to enter.
A massive thank you to our funders Arts Council England, for allowing us to create ground-breaking work and fulfil our creative vision.
15-20 APRIL, 11am-4pm
Unit 10 (ground floor)
Haymarket Shopping Centre
Supporters:
