FREEDOM FESTIVAL 2024

Creative Participation

Save the dates for this year's Freedom Festival28 Aug - 1 Sep 2024

Our Projects

We develop and commission programmes that embed local people in internationally significant work.

We aim to encourage and engage predominantly children and young people from hard-to-reach communities in the arts through participatory projects.

These provide memorable experiences and a chance to be a part of something extraordinary. The aim is to help foster individual wellbeing, build confidence and to create stronger, more cohesive communities.

Children & Young People Projects

Arts Award 2023

Freedom Festival Arts Trust is an Arts Award Supporter, meaning we can help you achieve your Arts Award qualification. Learn more...

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La Mecanica – The Little Things 2022

The show’s finale included a team of young people from East Hull, who trained with the company in the run-up to its performance.

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Mammalian Diving Reflex – Teentalitarianism 2019

Mammalian Diving Reflex returned in 2019 to offer a new participation project, this time working with teenagers, and addressed what happens when youth rule the roost.

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Broken Orchestra – Westcott Primary School Climate Change Podcast 2021

Westcott Primary School hosted a Q&A with Luke Jerram and explored the ongoing climate crisis in a whole series of their lessons with their teachers, which the Broken Orchestra then edited together into a podcast.

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Mammalian Diving Reflex – Haircuts by Children 2017

A group of children are given a crash course in hairdressing and run a salon, offering free haircuts to the public.

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Music & Dance Projects

Surge: Beautiful Bones 2023

A collection of cacophonous performances out on the city streets collided into a life-affirming grand finale in Queen Victoria Square, getting audiences on their feet and dancing.

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The Everyman Project – Opera In A Day 2023

A collection of cacophonous performances out on the city streets collided into a life-affirming grand finale in Queen Victoria Square, getting audiences on their feet and dancing.

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Gorilla Circus – Unity 2023

A collection of cacophonous performances out on the city streets collided into a life-affirming grand finale in Queen Victoria Square, getting audiences on their feet and dancing.

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Arun Ghosh – Ambhas 2019

Young musicians had the opportunity to perform percussion and rhythms alongside professional players, including Arun Ghosh.

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Southpaw Dance Company – Rush 2017

Experienced dancers and people who had never performed before came together for a performance inspired by 21st century mass protest.

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Visual Projects

Freedom Festival Arts Trust & WLDN – The Hull Vigil

Each participant experienced The Vigil alone and had their own unique experience, but every one shared their thoughts and feelings – which have been collated to tell the story of the performance in Hull.

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Kaleider – A Portrait Without Borders 2020

For Freedom Festival 2020, we invited audience members to have their portrait drawn by Kaleider’s non-learning AI.

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L’Homme Debout – Rise 2018

RISE took an international, large-scale production and rooted it in the city of Hull, opening their creative process to almost 200 local people.

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Audience Participation Projects

Via Berlin – Invisible City 2023

The Invisible City was a brand new, UK premiere of an interactive audio installation for the streets.

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FEASTival 2017 & 2018

This volunteer-led free feast encouraged strangers to come together to meet, talk and eat.

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The Print Shop: Rise[up]! 2018

The Print Shop responded to our desire to engage people in the process of developing their own voice, done in this project through protest slogans.

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Cie ATSA – While Having Soup 2017

While Having Soup welcomed members of the public to a free “three course dialogue” experience provoking philosophical conversations.

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Mammalian Diving Reflex – All the Sex I’ve Ever Had 2022

A celebration of life, love, romance and sex – All the Sex I’ve Ever Had is a reminder to us all that life doesn’t end once you get older.

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Corporate & Creative Partners