About Little Arts Festival
THE LITTLE ARTS FESTIVAL PROJECT
This community enterprise, based in and around Rushlake Green exists to encourage, support and promote local involvement in all aspects of the arts. It aims to provide a platform for everyone involved in any arts activity locally, and it is particularly focused on those getting into the arts – be they young students or anyone starting, or hoping to start, getting actively involved in arts activities. If you are a visual artist, musician, writer, singer-songwriter, theatre maker, animator, film maker, musical group of any genre from early music to rock and rap, radio creator, craft maker or conceptual artist and have not already make contact with us please email: thelittleartsfestival@gmail.com
If you are interested in knowing more about our activities, being kept informed and attending our events please subscribe to our mailing list: CLICK HERE
Here is a brief summary of the evolution of the Little Arts Project to date, in reverse chronological order:
2025 BIG LITTLE ARTS WEEKEND
The 2025 Big Little Arts Weekend will run from 25th to 28th September 2025, with that programme that includes Visual Arts, Live Music, Poetry, Story-telling and Literature. The sessions will take place mainly in the Dunn Village Hall, Rushlake Green but will also encompass other local venues such as the Warbleton Parish Church.
For full details of the 2025 Big Little Arts Weekend CLICK HERE
2024 FUTURE PLANS
Following the 2024 festival, the Little Arts team agreed two things going forward
1) Maximum 4 years between festivals
It was concluded, based on the experience of the projects to date, that the optimum period between festivals would be four years. It was agreed that 8 years between the first two festivals was too long and lost some of the momentum initially created. At the same time it was felt that, as a full festival takes 18 months to two years to organise, and new people need to be recruited with each new full festival, a frequency of less than four yearly would be challenging to sustain at the same level of success.
If you would be interested in being part of a team helping to organise another full-blown Little Arts Festival in 2028, please contact thelittleartsfestival@gmail.com
2) Smaller scale ‘mini-festival’ every year to maintain momentum
The proposal emerged for an annual Long Weekend event, over 3-4 days, involving as many disciplines and local art groups and contributors as practicable. This idea solidified into the concept of a ‘Big Little Arts Weekend’, with the first event planned for August 2025.
2024 LITTLE ARTS FESTIVAL
The 2024 Little Arts Festival was a follow-up to the previous community festival on this scale in 2016. Once again Little Arts was successful in attracting supporters, volunteers and audiences from Rushlake Green and all the surrounding areas including Bodle Street Green, Dallington, Turners Green, Punnetts Town, Cade Street, Old Heathfield, Vines Cross, Warbleton, Cowbeech and beyond.
The festival featured more than 20 events involving some 130 participants covering Visual Arts, Craft, Live Music, Theatre, Literature, Poetry & Live Radio. The festival extended over a period of 3 weeks in August 2024. Events included:
- Open Art Exhibition, open to any local artist of whatever level of experience.
- Live gigs by: Nothing is Real, Taylor Made Band, Kusha Deep, Nigel Heron.
- Performances by Pastores Ensemble, Sussex Harmony, Warbleton Brass Band, WarbleSingers
- History, music and art of Heathfield Park by Judith Tarling and Mayfield Consort
- Poetry Readings, Kids Acting Workshops and Murder Mystery performance by Rushlake Green Village Players
- Book sale and reader social event by members of local book clubs
- Storytelling and group music composition by Milton Hyde
- Art classes and craft workshops by Mark Austin, Kelly Wills, Sue Branch and Jazz Dixon
- Live online Radio Broadcasts and interviews by Dissociation Station
THE 2016 LITTLE ARTS FESTIVAL
The 2016 Little Arts Festival was the brainchild of the late Chris Liddiard who was a much loved and hugely talented local artist, musician and song writer. The idea was simple but quite challenging for a small community like ours to make happen.
Chris was well aware of the incredible range of artistic talent and creativity that is at the heart of the communities around us: all forms and genres of music, theatre, poetry, the visual arts, poetry, craft making, photography, literature and much more. In the Spring of 2015 Chris issued a challenge to some of those involved in local arts projects:
“why don’t we get everyone together to create a little festival where all these amazing people can work together to create something special that the whole community can enjoy and in many cases take part in.”
So it was that the 2015 the Little Arts Festival was project was borne and given a name. A small group of volunteers was assembled to start work on planning the festival, gaining commitments from the arts groups involved and engaging the support of everyone interested in the arts, within the local communities around Rushlake Green.
Some 18 months later, as the result of the tireless endeavours of all those involved, the festival came to fruition. A packed programme of 20 arts events, involving more than 100 participants, over a 10 day period, attracting attendees from far and wide. And only possible because of the people from across the community who supported the project as Friends of Festival, Sponsors and Volunteers. The event was pronounced an outstanding success by everyone who participated.
It is fair to say that the 2016 stretched to the limit all those involved, from organisers and contributing artists to volunteers, supporters and attendees. And it was agreed that a festival of such an ambitious scale would not be practicable on an annual basis going forward. So in the years that followed the Little Arts team focused on organising or supporting smaller one of exhibitions, gigs and events. And it wasn’t until 2022, post the covid hiatus, that momentum began to build for what was to be the follow up to the 2016 event – the 2024 Little Arts Festival.