From: Gulb Marketing [gulbmarketing_at_kent_dot_ac_dot_uk]

Sent: 07 August 2018 14:02

Subject: bOing! International Family Festival is back!

One Month until the 5^th bOing! International Family Festival ? 25 & 26 August 2018

In just over four weeks, the 5^th bOing! International Family Festival will be in full swing in the heart of Canterbury. With its biggest and most international line up to date, this year?s festival ? running over the August Bank Holiday of 25 and 26 August ? welcomes acclaimed companies from Australia, France, Denmark, Spain and across the UK to perform in indoor and outdoor spaces big and small across the weekend for an anticipated audience of 15,000 people of all ages.

Highlights for 2018 include Teatret Gruppe 38 from Denmark, whose audience for Androcles and the Lion sit in hammocks to enjoy beautiful projections and storytelling.

Spanish company Aracaladanza return to Gulbenkian with their stunning show Constellations, which takes inspiration from the colours and patterns of artist Joan Miro, and Dyptik from Saint Etienne in France will be performing their dynamic outdoor dance D-Construction, with dancers caged and protected by a high wire fence.

bOing! has performances for the very small, including La Petita?s lovely Beatles for Babies, and for older children, such as Efren Pamilican Jr from Melbourne with his powerful hip hop, projection performance 9DIMES.

Frozen Light are graduates of the University of Kent and create brilliant performances for audiences with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD). They return to bOing! in 2018 with a new performance Isle of Brimsker.

For the third year, bOing! welcomes one of the luminaria created by Alan Parkinson for Architects of Air. Katena is a maze of tunnels and soaring spaces inspired by Gaudi?s Sagrada Familia, and an incredible experience enjoyed by thousands of festival goers each year.

The lively outdoor performances include a ?Campervan of Love?, Bill & Bobby dancing in a bath, dj?s from The Netherlands making fries as they play your tunes, bangra drumming and the Bollywood Brass band, plus crazy hairdressers from Barcelona. 

Workshops are an important part of bOing! and visitors to the festival in 2018 will have the chance to turn their hand to animation, puppetry, bangra drumming, crime scene investigations and boat-hat making.

On Friday 24 August, bOing! will hit the streets of Canterbury with Cohesion Plus performing bangra, plus the Bollywood Brass Band and a hip hop street battle all the way from Australia.

Each year bOing! asks questions about theatre making for children and young people, and the 2018 bOing! Debate is around work for 8-12 year olds. The discussion will be hosted by ART(Y)31 Gulbenkian?s very own group of 8-12 year olds.

bOing! showcases the very best in theatre, dance, music, films created for all ages across Europe. bOing! is free to enter, with charges only on indoor performances, in order to create a brilliant day out for everyone, whatever age and experience of theatre.

bOing began in 2014, when 2,500 people attended. Audiences have since grown to 11,500 in 2017 and anticipated to increase again in 2018. 

Tickets for the festival are on general sale via www.boingfestival.com or the Gulbenkian Tickets & Information line on 01227 769075.

Full festival line up - http://boingfestival.com/whats-on/.

Images:

Performers in 2018

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/c3fr6s355ckl39s/AADhnFPZ-v5w83zbfPfieFqDa?dl=0

Images from previous festivals

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/js3gr63imc2bdxl/AADX-vpcL82JsG8tJbRO0nLla?dl=0

ENDS.

Press Contact:

For interviews, more information, press tickets and images please contact:

Rachel Furst, freelance PR 07957 457668 or
Jess Thomas, Marketing Officer, 01227 827956, j.l.thomas_at_kent_dot_ac_dot_uk
David Yard, Head of Marketing, 01227 824688, d.yard_at_kent_dot_ac_dot_uk

Or visit our press site for images: http://www.thegulbenkian.co.uk/about-us/press/index.html

About the bOing! International Family Festival

bOing! is an annual festival, run every August bank holiday weekend.  bOing! showcases the very best in theatre, dance, music, films created for all ages across Europe. bOing! is free to enter, with charges only on indoor performances, and we aim to create a brilliant day out for everyone, whatever age and experience of theatre.

bOing began in 2014, when 2,500 people attended. Audiences have since grown to 11,500 in 2017 and anticipated to increase again in 2018.  

bOing! Funders

bOing! 2017 is funded by Arts Council England & Kent County Council, and supported by the School of Arts, University of Kent and University of Kent Hospitality. Our media partners are the The KM Group.

About Gulbenkian

Gulbenkian is a key part of the University of Kent?s Arts Centre offering innovative, engaging and high quality arts activity for and with the public, staff and students. It provides a key role in delivering the University of Kent?s commitment to Public Engagement proving an interface between the University and the local and wider community Gulbenkian has a particular commitment to the creative empowerment of children and young people and talent development.

Arts Council England NPO

On 1 April 2015, Gulbenkian became an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. To find out more about this please see the Arts Council England website.