Professional Programme

A brand new showcase in the former UK City of Culture.
  • Dates: 31 August - 2 September

“Do you want to come outside and play?” Freedom Festival Seminar | Friday, 31st August – 12 pm – 5 pm 

Festival Big Top

Building on last year’s successful pilot event, Freedom Festival will bring together established and emerging artists, producers, promoters, cultural leaders and professionals from outside the arts sector to take part in a series of discussions, talks and debates. This event is intended to allow artists and arts professionals an insight into current trends, challenges and philosophies prevalent in the outdoor arts festival sector.

In partnership with creative enterprise development programme ‘Creative ENRG’ and with support from Arts Council England, Freedom Festival aims for this annual event at the festival to help consolidate and encourage better partnerships and collaboration across the North of England, create more opportunities for artists to flourish and for festivals to be sustainable and work better together.

Download the Seminar Programme


Opening Reception

Friday, 31st August – 5 pm – 6:30 pm

Kardomah94, 94 Alfred Gelder Street, HU1 2AN, Hull

XTRAX Shorts – Saturday, 1st September | 10 am – 12 pm 

Kardomah94, 94 Alfred Gelder Street, HU1 2AN, Hull

XTRAX Shorts is our signature brand of artists pitch sessions where artists and companies give imaginative presentations about outdoor projects in development to an audience of UK and international festival and event representatives, producers, and others working in the sector. XTRAX Shorts is followed by networking, providing those in attendance with the opportunity to find out more about these projects.

XTRAX Shorts supports artists by giving them the chance to present a project to people who can potentially commission, present or support it in other ways including in-kind or low-cost provision of rehearsal space, mentoring, or advocacy. For festival programmers and event producers, it complements the showcase programme by providing them with an additional chance to network, and find out about new work. Projects presented as part of XTRAX Shorts have often gone on to be supported, commissioned or booked by those in attendance.

The following projects have been selected to present: 

Garth Williams –  Doctor! Doctor!!

APUS Productions

Becky Namgauds – Rodadoras

Driftwood 360

Tickertape Parade – Fantabulosa

Imagineer Production – Bridge

Justice in Motion – On Edge

Pif Paf – CelestialSoundCloud (Version 2)

Mike Blow – Democratic Electronic Music

Applied Live Art

Initiative.dkf – Scalped


Coffee and Cake at Creative ENRG Exhibition
Saturday, 1st September | 5 pm –  6:30 pm 

Queens House Showcase, 44-46 Paragon Street, HU1 3NQ, Hull

Creative ENRG invite you to enjoy coffee and cake at their current exhibition ‘Not So Imaginary Friends’, featuring surreal and touching works by Hull artists.
This will be an opportunity to hear directly from Freedom Festival Artistic Director Mikey Martins about the collaborations between the visual arts sector and Freedom Festival and to network with colleagues.


International Newsround – Sunday, 2nd September | 10:30 am – 12 pm 

Kardomah94, 94 Alfred Gelder Street, HU1 2AN, Hull

We will host an informal networking session where will invite promoters to share information about their projects. We will also invite some of our international colleagues to share information about any opportunities for UK artists to get involved. If you are a promoter, we will ask you to speak briefly about your festival and/or events, upcoming opportunities and ways to get involved. Feel free to bring promotional material to share as well.


Drinks at Kardomah94 – Every day 
Join us and other delegates after a busy day to relax with a drink and enjoy Kardomah’s quirky atmosphere.

Meals at Hull College (10 on the Festival Map) – Every day 
Lunch and dinner will be served at Hull College, where delegates will be able to hang out and meet other professionals.
Meals will be £10 per day and requests will be taken by the XTRAX team prior to the Showcase.

Delegate Bags and Name Badges collection
Friday 31st August, until 5 pm – Festival Big Top (4 on the Festival Map)
Friday 31st August from 5 pm until 7 pm – Kardomah94
Saturday 1st September from 9 am until 12 pm –  Kardomah94
Sunday 2nd September from 9:30 am until 12 pm – Kardomah94

The XTRAX Staff will be on hand at lunch and dinner time at Hull College (10 on the Festival Map), where delegates can leave promotional material.

 

 

Back to XTRAX/ Freedom Festival 2018 Showcase