PRESS RELEASE 16 April 2013: Chorlton Arts Festival 2013 programme announced with details of special launch event featuring I Am Kloot’s John Bramwell and DJ Dave Haslam

The team behind Chorlton Arts Festival is pleased to reveal this year’s exciting programme of events and exhibitions, and tickets and Early Bird Weekender Wristbands are now on sale via the Festival website at www.chorltonartsfestival.com. Chorlton Arts Festival takes place in the Manchester suburbs over 10 days, from 17 to 26 May, and is sponsored by Simplyhealth. The full programme is now available online and the brochure will be distributed from Friday 19 April.

Featuring over 100 items, the programme is split into the categories of music, performance (comedy, theatre and spoken word), art/craft and special events. The events take place in venues across Chorlton-cum-Hardy, south Manchester, and over half are free of charge. The Festival’s music extravaganza, the Chorlton Weekender, is back for a second year and will take place over Bank Holiday weekend (23–26 May), with local musicians taking to the various stages as well as internationally acclaimed talent, including TOY, The Candle Thieves and Viv Albertine of The Slits.

Now in its 13th year, Chorlton Arts Festival will launch on Friday 17 May with a special evening in St Ninian’s Church featuring John Bramwell of I Am Kloot, nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2010 and achieving overwhelming success with their latest album, Let It All In. John will be in conversation with journalist, author and DJ Dave Haslam, and an interesting event packed with anecdotes is guaranteed.

Other highlights of this year’s Festival include outdoor performance As The Sun Goes Down, which takes place in Chorlton Park 23–25 May, and the installation Once Upon A Time, in Chorlton Library throughout the Festival. The ever-popular art and craft fair takes place on Saturday 18 May in St Clement’s Church, while new this year is a zine/print fair running during the Weekender. Building on the successes of 2011’s this way:UP and 2012’s Digital Arts Collective, Chorlton On Chorlton is a project collecting film footage of the area and projecting the images on to buildings. Also back for a third year is the FlashTag writing collective’s short-short story competition, which is open for entries until Friday 26 April, with winners revealed at an event on Wednesday 22 May.

Festival Director Ella Byford said: “We’re very excited to be presenting such a diverse range of exhibitions and events, celebrating and showcasing local talent and bringing major international artists and musicians to Chorlton. We hope there’s something for everyone and are delighted to be able to provide over half of the events free of charge.”

For any press-related enquiries, please contact Sarah-Clare Conlon, Head of Press & PR, on [email protected] or 07726 232412, or Ella Byford, Festival Director, on [email protected] or 07854 083781. For more information on Chorlton Arts Festival 2013, see www.chorltonartsfestival.com