It's Arts

The Fuse Festival 2009 opens on Saturday, 6 June in a riot of Bollywood carnival colour. For the next three weekends there is family fun and chaotic capers on the high streets of Chatham, Rochester, Gillingham, Rainham & Strood. World-class artists from Medway, the UK and Europe will dazzle and delight in outdoor spaces and unusual places finishing with a fire-spun finale on Saturday, 20 June. It's arts that is different, diverse and daring.

It's Yours

Performances are intimate and immediate, so you’re at the heart of them. Hundreds of people from Medway are already involved, adding to the line-up of talented professional performers from across Europe. Follow the Imagination our Nation puppet throughout Fuse.

It's Free

Let the adventures begin. GO

Fuse Medway Festival is a free celebration of arts that is different, diverse and daring. We aim to showcase some of the best emerging and established performers from across Medway and Europe. We also work with hundreds of local residents from many community groups.

 

The festival would not be possible without the hard

work and support of the professional companies, community groups, the not-for-profit

organisations and individuals involved.

 

A hearty thanks to you all.


A special thanks to...

Arts Council England

The national development agency for the arts in England... Details +

University of Kent at Medway

Our growing relationship with The Event and Experience Design section... Details +
WHATS ON
Wings

Weekend one: Saturday, 6 – Sunday, 7 June

High Jinx on Chatham High Street

Saturday 6 June from 12noon

Entertainers and performers roam the high streets of Chatham, intent on amusing and amazing. Acts will be performing regularly throughout the day.Details +

Bollywood Imagination…It’s Carnival Time

Saturday, 6 June

Join in as the festival explodes into life with a riot of carnival colour, music and fireworks - centred around Chatham Riverside.Details +

Nutkhut presents Movieplex

Chatham Contact Point - Saturday 6, June from 2pm and 6pm

Walk the red carpet and enter the world of the pioneering Indian filmmaker Shanta Rao Dutt. He travelled to Chatham Dockyard in 1939 to document wartime events. Details +

Bollywood Arts and Crafts Workshops

Chatham Riverside and library - Saturday 6, June 6pm

Great fun for all the family. Decorate your hand with a henna tattoo. Enjoy a traditional Indian head massage and aromatherapy treatment or model a sari.Details +

Siddhartha's Journey - a travelling performance

Chatham High Street to Chatham Riverside - Saturday, 6 June 7pm

Starting outside the New Art Centre and based on the beautiful story of Siddhartha, the performance will be a riot of Indian-themed colour, music and dancing. Details +

Dance at the Riverside

Chatham Riverside 8.45pm

Be bowled-over by Bollywood style dances performed by South Asian dance specialists Akademi, Dance Alley and Medway Afro Caribbean Association. Details +

Music at the Riverside

Chatham Riverside - Saturday, 6 June 9.15pm

Sitar and Tabla students from Thames Valley University cast a spell of Indian rhythms and melodies.

Panjabi by Nature

Chatham Riverside - Saturday, 6 June 9.45pm

Panjabi by Nature’s blend of catchy hooks and heavy beats has earned him a number 1 single on the BBC Asian Network chart and a flurry of dancefloor favourites. Details +

The World Famous presents A Fiery Finale

Chatham Riverside - Saturday, 6 June 10.30pm

A breathtaking end to the event as the ground you stand on is transformed into a colourful carpet of light.Details +

BBC Blast Showcase

Globe Lane Car Park, Chatham - Saturday, 6 June 4.30pm

A series of exciting performances from young people aged 13 to 19. Performers will have taken part in creative workshops on board the BBC Blast Trucks. Details +

Rotozaza presents Etiquette

Saturday 6 June from 12noon

Enter the café, sit down, put the headphones on and depart to a private, parallel world of communication. It’s just you, your etiquette partner and the headphones. Details +

Street arts in Rainham and Strood

Sunday, 7 June - Rainham/Strood town centres

Experience a preview of the Medway Mystery Safari and meet the Imagination Our Nation puppet. Taking place in Rainham and Strood town centres from 12-4pm. Details +

Bikes

Weekend Two: Friday 12 – Sunday 14 June

Medway Mystery Safari – one night only

Friday 12 June 7pm

All aboard the bus for a magical mystery tour of Medway. Step on at Eastgate House in Rochester High Street and enter a world that pits Monty against Python. Show preview also available on Sunday, 7 June 12-4pm at Rainham and Strood.Details +

Dancing in the Street

Saturday 13 June from 12noon

An afternoon of dance performances and workshops in Rochester High Street. Acts will be performing regularly throughout the day. To find out where and when check this site a couple of days before the event or pick up a timetable on the day. Details +

Dance Workshops

Saturday 13 June from 12noon - Eastgate House and Rochester Castle Gardens

This is a great opportunity for people of all ages and abilities to test their skills and learn from professional performers and artists. Details +

Scarabeus presents - Danza Antigua

Saturday 13 June 9.30pm – Rochester Castle Gardens

A spectacular performance on stilts based on the thrilling Danza Antigua festival.Entwined, the living dead will sweep across the floor with tangos, salsa and acrobatics in a macabre, romantic dance. Details +

Upswing presents - Loved Up

Saturday 13 June 10pm – Rochester Castle Gardens

When the girls and boys come out to play who will come out on top in the game of love? Loved Up is a light-hearted, fast-footed fusion of aerial dance and hip hop centred around the pursuit of love. Video Details +

The Neo Futurist Collective presents - A Call to Arms

Sunday 14 June 7pm

Upnor - home of an Elizabethan Castle and a former military railway; supplier of men and explosives to the historic Chatham Dockyards. Details +

Seeking Closure

Saturday 13 & Sunday 14 June - Rochester Riverside & Chatham Historic Dockyard

Also on during Fuse. Led by Medway-based artist Fiona Watt, Creativity without Borders presents Seeking Closure, a live outdoor performance piece fusing the skills of Medway’s vibrant visual arts communities with the equally thriving choral groups of Dunkerque. Details +

Jugglers

Weekend Three: Friday 19 – Saturday 20 June

Hoodwink presents - A Leap of Faith

Friday 19 June 6pm - Capstone Farm Country Park

Look up to the skies in this celebration of the human aspiration to fly and the magnificent aerial failures and innovations throughout history. Flying monks, paper wings, balloons, feathers and aerobicycle displays endeavour to return our fallen heroine to the sky. Details +

High Jinx on Gillingham High Street

Saturday 20 June from 12noon

Entertainers and performers roam the high streets of Gillingham, intent on amusing and amazing. Acts will be performing regularly throughout the day. To find out where and when check this site a couple of days before the event or pick up a timetable on the day. Alternatively, just turn up and explore. Details +

Pulp Fictions

Saturday 20 June - Rochester Art Gallery

Rochester Art Gallery and Craft Case re-opens to the public after extensive refurbishment works and relocation to the ground floor of the Visitors Information Centre. Details +

Dizzy O’Dare presents From the Inky Deep

Saturday 20 June 9.30pm – Rochester Castle moat

From the Inky Deep combines tightwire and aerial circus with dance and physical theatre, transporting you to a far-away world where dark fairy tales and mythical creatures will amaze and delight. Details +

Denis Tricot, in association with Walk the Plank presents - Duo de Feu

Saturday 20 June 10.30pm – Rochester Castle

International collaboration between French artist Denis Tricot and British pyrotechnic company Walk the Plank. Details +

Imagination our Nation

A five-year project that will culminate in 2012 with a major event at Victoria Park in East London. Medway is proud to one of the 17 new regional partners for 2009. Details +

Human Birds

Also on during Fuse. Medway artist Jane Pitt will invite local people of all ages to join in with her Human Birds project throughout May & June via outdoor events around North Kent and Medway Details +

Send a Digi-Gift-Card

Throughout the festival you can combine the old with the new and send a unique postcard from the cutting edge. The Digi-Gift-Card mobile centre will be touring the streets during festival events. Details +

Camera Man
Punters

The Arts Team
The Brook Theatre
Old Town Hall
Chatham
Kent ME4 4SE

Tel: 01634 338319

Email: fuse@medway.gov.uk

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Punters