City hosting new festival dedicated to stage, screen and the arts

Festival On The Square, a brand new immersive festival celebrating the best of Sheffield, will arrive on Monday 16 August.

Showcasing the cream of the crop of Sheffield’s creative arts scene, the occasion will play host to live art installations, blockbuster film screenings arranged by Showroom Cinema, a series of shows curated by Sheffield Theatres, live entertainment and circus skills, and interactive workshops supported by some of the city’s best food and drink traders.

The festival, which will run until 30 August in Tudor Square, will give people the opportunity to take part in a range of activities centred around the topic of art and its creation.

Tom Lord

Alongside the art programme, Festival On The Square will be catered to by local bars and restaurants, with an onsite coffee cart from HYGGE and ice cream van from Granellis.

Activities will include a live art demonstration involving the creation of an original large scale piece of art, exhibitions from local galleries and artists such as Burton Street Gallery, BUBBA 2000, and Sheffield Flourish, art creation workshops spanning various mediums and a dedicated mural space for visitors and tourists to leave their mark.

The theatre programme, taking place on the final weekend, will be held directly outside the Crucible and Lyceum Theatres and is curated by Sheffield Theatres.

A programme of films selected by Sheffield’s own independent cinema, Showroom Cinema, will run throughout the festival.

It will include a mix of cult-favourites, family-friendly films, documentaries and award-winning classics. Screenings will take place from morning until evening most days.

There will also be a showcase of films from Showroom’s long-term, local festival partners ShAFF and DocFest. A full programme will be revealed in the coming weeks.

For those looking for activities to get involved with, there will be a range of interactive workshops, performances and demonstrations provided by well known makers and artists in the area and local businesses, spanning topics such as spoken word, circus skills and pottery.

Justin Rowntree

Throughout the festival, live music will be on hand to keep festival goers entertained, with professional street performers including Leona Jørgensen, semi-finalist from The Voice.

The event will be delivered by Tom Lord of hospitality consultancy BarCraft and Justin Rowntree from SweetSpot Hospitality, supported by Events Collective thanks to a grant from the Sheffield City Council COVID-19 Economic Recovery Fund.

Lord said: “We’ve all been hugely impacted by the pandemic and we see this as an opportunity to come together to start to rebuild our industries.

“Sheffield is a brilliant place packed full of great arts, culture and people, and what better way to celebrate it than to create a space to showcase it all for free in the heart of the city.”

Rowntree added: “Tudor Square is such a brilliant space within the city. It’s in a great location and is the perfect place for us to start to rebuild and bring communities back together again.

“From families looking for something to do to those looking for a different type of evening out, we hope the Festival On The Square will tempt people back into the centre and remind us why we are so lucky to call this city home.”