The Lakes set to come alive this summer

Lakes Alive has unveiled plans for an exciting summer season of outdoor arts events in the Lake District and other parts of Cumbria. The streets of Cumbria’s towns and villages will come alive with a host of entertainment including acrobatics, circus skills and dance.

The season will also include a specially commissioned piece created in the Lake District and will culminate in Mintfest, one of the UK’s largest street arts festivals.

Lakes Alive is a 4 year programme of inspirational outdoor events across Cumbria which is being held to help celebrate the Olympics coming to the UK.

The Lakes Alive Summer Season gets underway at Egremont Castle in the Western Lake District on Saturday 11th July with Shall We Dance, an open air ball amongst the castle ruins.

On Sunday 26th July there will be more dancing in the centre of Penrith with Dance Daze, the town’s first contemporary and street dance festival.

On Saturday 15th August Once Upon a Summer’s Eve will see a giant compost heap come to life and a panto dame set loose on the shores of Derwentwater, as part of a great evening of entertainment. The evening will end with a magical concert performed by Tres, an artist from Barcelona, and a group of Tuba players from boats on the lake.

On Sunday 16th August the fun moves to Curwen Park in Workington, with a packed daytime schedule of entertainment.

Lakes Alive has specially commissioned Artizani, one of the UK’s leading outdoor companies, to create a new show at Lanternhouse in Ulverston, as part of its commitment to make Cumbria the centre of excellence for street arts.

The show, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, will visit five locations across the county towards the end of August, before going on tour to other parts of the UK and Europe.

It tells the story of Dr Caligari who arrives in town to perform a cabaret. Freaks, oddities, eccentrics and acrobats are conjured out of thin air to entertain, but once out of the box refuse to disappear. The cabaret accelerates towards an extraordinary revolt in which performers and spectators turn on the twisted Caligari in a spectacular finale.

Recreating the shady underbelly of vaudeville and circus, by turns hilarious and tragic, this will be an afternoon’s entertainment not to be missed.

The show can be seen at the following places:

Monday 24 August, 2pm:
Broadgate Meadow, Grasmere

Tuesday 25 August, 2pm:
Ford Park, Ulverston

Wednesday 26 August, 2pm:
Rothay Park, Ambleside

Thursday 27 August, 2pm:
Bitts Park, Carlisle

Friday 28 August, 2pm:
Brockhole, Lake District Visitor Centre

The Lakes Alive Summer Season culminates in the flagship festival Mintfest in Kendal from the 27th to the 30th of August. Mintfest, now one of the leading international street arts festivals in the UK, is being produced in partnership with South Lakeland District Council.

Every corner of the town will burst into life for August Bank Holiday weekend with a mind-boggling array of, mostly free, performances from over 30 UK and international acts. The sheer range and originality of the performances guarantees a jam-packed weekend of live, unpredictable fun to keep the audiences amused, entertained and inspired.

The highlights of this year’s festival will include the UK premiere of a new show by the highly acclaimed Circus Ronaldo from Belgium. It will be the first time that three generations of the famous circus family have come together in one show.

Carabosse from France will be creating a beautiful fire garden with music; a fairytale environment of fire sculptures in trees, behind bushes and along pathways.

The Zapik Puppet Theatre from Slovenia will be putting on performances where the spectators not only get to watch but also take part.

Bootworks are six performers who put on playful and artfully choreographed five-minute peep shows for a one person audience in their Black Box auditorium.

Comic Character Creations will bring British eccentrics such as the Mary Whitehouses, the Sleepwalkers, the Lost Ramblers (here to stock up on Kendal Mint Cake!), and a cake stall raising money for Dieters Anonymous.

Julie Tait, Director of Kendal Arts International (KAI), which is organising Lakes Alive, says: “This is going to be an exciting series of events for local people and visitors alike. We’ll be bringing the best in UK and international streets arts into every corner of the county, ending with a spectacular finale in Kendal at the end of August.”

By the time this first season comes to an end Lakes Alive will have featured more than 100 different acts and companies, 20 per cent of them from overseas and 80 per cent from the UK (with about half of the UK performers coming from Cumbria and other parts of the North West).

Lakes Alive is one of three annual programmes commissioned for WE PLAY, the Northwest cultural legacy programme for the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. WE PLAY is a Legacy Trust UK funded project led by the Arts Council England Northwest on behalf of a new regional partnership. Lakes Alive is sponsored by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and has also received funding from Arts Council England and the Northern Rock Foundation.

Peter Mearns, Executive Director of Marketing and Communications at the NWDA said: “Lakes Alive is a unique programme of events that really sets Cumbria apart; no where else will you find such a fantastic array of outdoor arts events set against such a magnificent backdrop. Last year’s events were a huge success and this year’s programme looks to be even more spectacular.”

KAI is working in partnership with every local authority in Cumbria, the Lake District National Park Authority, Cumbria Tourism, the University of Cumbria and key arts organisations to deliver the programme.

For more information on Lakes Alive visit lakesalive.org.