Former Director of Festival of Thrift, Stella Hall, has written about her decade of experience with the festival in an excellent article for Arts Professional.
“In late 2012, I got a call from Wayne Hemingway. He and Gerardine Hemingway had met John Orchard, developer of award-winning Lingfield Point, Darlington, once Patons and Baldwin’s knitting factory, now upcycled into a business park. Together they had the idea of a festival to celebrate this achievement and wanted a director. What did I think? I was not enthralled.
However, once persuaded to visit, the sensitive redevelopment of 1920s art deco buildings, 21st-century reimagining of warehouses, plus public artworks across the site sold me, and I agreed.
They’d already given it a name, Festival of Thrift, and production manager David Bilton and I set about programming, fundraising, recruiting volunteers and building support. Together we established a set of aims that, ten years later, are broadly what we still adhere to. To promote sustainable living by highlighting the skills and creativity of artists and craftspeople, inspiring people of all ages to learn old ways and find new ways to be creative in their everyday lives.”
The extracts have been taken from the article, which can be found in full here: Arts Professional.
