‘We’re doing it for the community’: Preparations for upcoming Whittlesey community arts festival gather pace

Plans to stage a new community-led arts and music festival in Whittlesey are moving forward at pace.

The Sound and Vision Festival will be staged at multiple venues throughout the town and run for a full month from October 1.

The festival is the brainchild of Matt Page, a Whittlesey resident who runs More Muzic Radio community radio station.

He said preparations for the festival are in full swing and that many acts have been confirmed.

Speaking to the Peterborough Telegraph, Matt, 69, also confirmed that “we’ve got one or two major sponsors coming in” and that “we’re going to run it right through the whole of October.”

At present, 17 separate venues, including local churches, coffee shops and pubs, have agreed to be part of the Sound and Vision Festival.

The events and acts that have been confirmed are many and varied, with everything from opera recitals, West End tributes, classic cover bands, and folk sessions rubbing shoulders with quiz nights, big bands, live comedy, and murder mystery evenings.

An artisan market, outdoor cinema and travelling circus have also been pencilled in.

Matt has been planning the festival since lockdown.

He feels certain it will bring both short-term and lasting benefits to the town he loves:

“We’re doing it for the community,” he explains. “Community is the way forward and we need it more than ever.”

He says the response from fellow residents has been “very good; brilliant,” and that “the mayor’s on board and he’s grateful for what we’re doing.”

“It’s something that can be built on, year on year,” he enthused, adding: “this will be a big festival in five years’ time.”

The festival will kick off on Sunday, 1 October at St Mary’s Church with a West End spectacular featuring cast members from Jersey Boys and Les Misérables performing.

After a full month of events, the festival will close with a free outdoor sing-a-long screening of The Greatest Showman, where attendees can dress up as lion tamers and ring masters and belt out the film’s much-loved songs, en-masse.

An official Sound and Vision Festival website, which will include line-ups and ticket prices, is due to go live in February.