Login
Account
Basket
There is so much going on at HIF Towers at the moment it feels a little like a rollercoaster. This last week we have been firming up plans for a new light festival for Harrogate called BEAM. We rather liked the ‘Turning On the Town’ strapline but given we have previously had letters in the paper about our debauched programming with the Carnival imagery we have gone for a more sedate option instead.
BEAM will take place on the 15th and 16th March and is a free event for the community. We will be lighting and animating key spaces across the town, celebrating architectural gems and ensuring the town can be seen for miles around, with a few insta-worthy pics on the ground too.
We also announced our headliners for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival for the summer, with Richard Osman, Abir Mukherjee and Erin Kelly headlining this year’s event, alongside the usual panels, entertainment and fun. This event sells over 15,000 tickets each year and we sell nearly 1500 hotel bedrooms right from the Festival office so it is fair to say that crime definitely pays, with the economic impact in the town thanks to this incredibly unique event in the calendar.
This week we heard that we made the shortlist for the UK Sponsorship Awards 2024 for our special and longstanding partnership with T&R Theakston. We’re up against some big players with M&C Saatchi, Universal Music Group, Royal Academy of Arts, Evian and Channel 4 but we like to think we bat above our weight here in Harrogate and here’s hoping we might bring home one of the awards, otherwise we will be rehearsing our ‘an honour to be nominated’ faces!
Berwins Salon North re-entered our programme for 2024 as a packed room learnt about the commercialisation of wellbeing (we spend £2.8 trillion a year on wellness), and how education will switch from the 3Rs to the 3Cs: curiosity, creativity and critical thinking, all due to the advent of AI. The next Salon will take place on the 11th April and is sure to sell out again, so get your tickets booked.
On the music front we are mid-way through our Sunday Series, beautiful chamber music alongside great coffee on Sunday mornings throughout spring. The next two concerts are sure to be incredibly special, with acclaimed pianist Clare Hammond performing a programme of Schumann, and Albéniz, and violinist Hyeyoon Park returning to Harrogate with a concert featuring Mozart, Debussy and Grieg. It is certainly a busy time for music in the office as we put the finishing touches to an exciting summer music programme featuring the welcome return of audience favourite; the Spiegeltent.
Finally, it is only when I am penning this column, I reflect on how much the Festival is delivering, working on and planning for the future. The team for 2024 has just 8 in the core team and a couple of fabulous freelancers, they are an amazing bunch of people who definitely know the importance of curiosity, creativity and critical thinking!