Lichfield Festival hailed as great success

The 30th Lichfield Festival has been hailed a great success with more community involvement than ever before and a substantial increase in year-on-year ticket sales.

The 100 events over 10 days featured over 500 artists from the UK as well as Cuba, Armenia, France, Ukraine, Romania, Australia, Russia, New Zealand, Japan, Malaysia and Mexico.

Evensong from Lichfield Cathedral was broadcast live by BBC Radio 3 to 1.5 million regular listeners, and Just A Minute, the popular BBC Radio 4 panel game hosted by Nicholas Parsons, was recorded at the Lichfield Garrick Theatre for future broadcast to its 2 million regular listeners.

The Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, launched National Poems for Cathedrals project with a poem specially written for Lichfield, and lines from the poem were depicted in the huge, colourful Lichfield Banner painted by Lichfield residents and assembled by artist Stephen Raw for display in the cathedral during the 10 days.

There were 43 free events and 71 education and community workshop sessions leading up to the festival. Nearly 1,500 participants took part in the community projects which included the Lichfield Festival Chorus, the Pig Parade and the Lichfield Banner, and 580 children were involved in education projects and performances.

More than 13,000 tickets were sold for the festival (an increase on 2010 of over 30 per cent), 30,000 people attended free community events, including the Lichfield Festival Market, Fringe Saturday, Festival Fireworks and the Pig Parade, and more than 5,000 people viewed the visual arts exhibitions in Lichfield Cathedral.

Of the final night Cathedral concert by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, one reviewer wrote: "It was the perfect end to an exciting evening, and to the Festival itself, which, despite a difficult financial climate, continues to deliver high-quality arts events to Lichfield and beyond."

Festival Director Fiona Stuart said: "Thanks to the enthusiasm and generosity of local people the 30th Lichfield Festival has been a tremendous success. There was a real party feel around the city and we are delighted that Lichfield embraced the birthday spirit and helped us to celebrate in style."