SouthWestFest 2022 – how to get involved

Add your event to our programme, apply to have a stall at our Festival Day and opportunities to volunteer with us

Event registration – if you are planning an event in South Westminster during the 2022 festival (24th June to 15th July, inclusive), you are invited to apply to have it added to our Open Access Programme. As long as it is open to the community to attend and free of charge (or low cost), we’ll consider adding it to our programme, which will be promoted across the borough via 12,000 brochures, social media and our website.

Click here to register your event

Apply for a stall at our Festival Day – with between 5,000 and 7,000 visitors, our Festival Day is a key date in the events calendar in South Westminster and we’d love you to join us! We have a sliding scale of very reasonable stall fees for individuals, community groups, charities and not for profits and businesses. Join us at this years event, and enjoy being part of a much loved community festival:

Apply for a stall

Register your interest in volunteering – our community festival wouldn’t be what it is without the volunteers to donate their time to help bring it all to life, and once again we’re hoping to bring on board a team of local residents that will love being a critical part of bringing SouthWestFest together. We’d love you to register your interest in volunteering, and you can do so here:

Volunteer with us

And if you’d like to work with us in any other way, we’d love to hear from you – get in touch with us via Instagram, Twitter or our contact form.

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New Team Members Announced

Following the Board of Trustees recent appointment of Dodie Finamore as Festival Director, we have two new members of the SouthWestFest team to share with you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edward Quigley is a self-taught artist and photographer/ working from his studio in north London. He brings a combination of experience and energy to his new role of Festival Producer.

He is also the founder of Citizens Art Market which is a visual arts social enterprise supporting artist development and engagement, and active in Pimlico, as well as across London.

Edward has 30 years experience in community development, event management and project management. He also worked in Westminster for the Paddington Development Trust.

Edward says: “I’m delighted and excited to join Dodie, the board and volunteers at SouthWestFest as we bring together plans for our 2022 festival. It’s great that the team have managed to programme activity during such difficult and uncertain times. I’m hoping that this year we can work to bring something really special to the community in South Westminster”

Lucy Donald is a marketer and producer based in London with a passion for theatre, live events and festivals. She has worked on a variety of large outdoor arts projects, including: Little Amal at COP26 (Good Chance) and Petrol Headz on Tour (Barbican Theatre). She has a range of experience in marketing – from national tours to brand new fringe work.

Lucy says: “I am excited to join the festival team. I’m looking forward to collaborating with our community to make the festival as fresh and fun as possible!”

Lucy will be running our social media channels and running our mailing list. Keep your eyes peeled for updates over the coming weeks and months!

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We’re Recruiting

SouthWestFest is looking for two new part-time members of staff!

Festival Producer & Marketing Assistant

Please see below for Job Descriptions and how to apply

 

Festival Producer – Job Description (click here)

Contract value – £6138

Contract period – January-December 2022, renewed annually

Time commitment – Average 1 day a week, but worked flexibly inline with festival timelines

Place of work – Primarily home-based, with attendance at monthly meetings in Westminster and at festival events

Deadline to apply – 5pm, 31st December 2021

Interview – Wednesday 12th January 2022, in person in Westminster (unless government guidelines change)

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Marketing Assistant – Job Description (click here)

Contract value – £1638

Contract period – January-December 2022

Time commitment – Average 1.5 days a month, worked flexibly inline with festival timelines

Place of work – Home based, all available remotely

Deadline to apply – 5pm, 31st December 2021

Interview – Friday 14th January 2022, online

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For any queries and to receive an application pack please contact chair@southwestfest.org.uk

To apply we’ll be asking for:

  • A CV
  • A cover letter OR a video presentation (max 5 mins)

Diversity and inclusion is integral to our work at SouthWestFest, as we are a festival for everyone. We actively support and encourage people from a variety of backgrounds, experiences and skill sets to join us and help shape what we do. We are particularly keen to receive applications from people of the global majority, LGBTQ+, neurodiverse and disabled candidates.

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New Director Announced

Today we announce that after recruiting and interviews, the Board of Trustees have appointed Dodie Finamore as Festival Director

 

“I am so excited to continue my work with SouthWestFest, our partners and communities. Heading into my fourth year with the festival, the time feels right to step up into this new role. After two years of finding new ways of working to steer us through these difficult times I am looking forward to returning to the festival’s traditional model whilst bringing fresh ideas and energy.

I am indebted to Joanna Goodey the previous Director, for all her support and guidance over the last few years, I shall miss working with her and wish her well.

We will be recruiting for my replacement so keep your eyes peeled!”

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Work with Us

SouthWestFest is looking for a new Festival Director:

Since 2004, SouthWestFest has brought the SW1 community together in the first weeks of July to celebrate the cultural and community work taking place in this unique part of the capital.  Now the Board of Trustees is seeking an experienced freelance Festival Director to lead this dynamic annual community festival, sustain past success and take it into a new phase of development.

The successful candidate will work with the Board and partner organisations to link local people to cultural and community opportunities through fun activities and engaging events for all ages.

Role – Freelance Festival Director

Contract value – £10,400

Contract period – January 2022-December 2022, renewable annually

Time commitment – One day per week on average, but weighted towards the festival events

and immediate preparation for them in early summer

Place of work – Primarily home-based/flexible with attendance at meetings in Westminster

needed on a regular basis

Reporting to – Chair and Board of Trustees

Supervising – Festival Producer and freelance staff, as required

Enhanced DBS check required

For an application pack and any queries please contact Chair of Trustees Dr Catherine Drake Wilkes on chair@southwestfest.org.uk

We plan to hold interviews on 23rd November.

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Jo Goodey steps down as Festival Director

Dear Friends of the Festival,

After 6 fantastic and fun-filled years at the helm of SouthWestFest it is time for me to move on from my role of Festival Director. This decision was not made easily, as I have absolutely loved my time working for SouthWestFest, getting to know the incredible communities, groups, organisations and people who make south Westminster such a vibrant place to live and work.

I feel honoured and privileged to have been able to work with you all to create amazing and inspiring cultural and community events and projects, which showcase and celebrate the area. From determinedly dancing and singing in the rain at the Pimlico Proms, to pop up planetariums, outdoor theatre shows, incredible community art installations, our parades and performances in the streets of Westminster, and my absolute favourite- our Festival Day in St. Georges square! I have so many happy memories to take with me.

I’m also pleased to have been able to work with our amazing trustees, our fantastic producer Dodie, our freelance staff and volunteers, to see the Festival and charity through the challenges of the Covid 19 pandemic. We launched a Digital festival in 2020, and a reimagined hybrid festival for 2021, out of which our Art Trail and other exciting new initiatives were born and now is an opportune time for the festival to continue to develop and grow under new leadership. 

Although I am departing as Festival Director, I promise this is not a goodbye, just a farewell for now as I will definitely be popping back in the future as an audience member, to enjoy all the fantastic future events the festival has to offer!

See you all soon,

Jo Goodey

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SouthWestFest Reimagined 2021 Has Begun!

SouthWestFest Reimagined 2021 started today with a BANG!

We kick off Week One of SouthWestFest Reimagined 2021 with our Health Trail as part of our Health & Wellbeing Week
Over 20 free events taking place online and across south Westminster from 2nd-4th July

Take part in 3 and win a Healthy Goodie Bag! Info and events here

Lots of Events This Week from our Partners

Everyone Active | Victoria and Northbank BIDs | Tate | Grosvenor | Finn Fitness | OneYou | Westminster Talking Therapies | Pimlico Library | Harmony Thyme | Hoop and Glory | Run Higher Collective | Westminster Abbey | Coco Sato | St Andrew’s Club | City Lions | Iris Theatre | Open Age | Westminster Adult Education Service | Pimlico Toy Library | Pimlico Million

Make sure you check them out here: www.southwetfest.org.uk/whats-on

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2021 Programme Launches Online

 

May has been a mega month and we’re excited to announce the full Festival Programme online!

Over 100 free and low-cost events for you to enjoy in July; take a look, and get booking the ones that peak your interest – there’s something for everyone…

Events Partners

Coco Sato | Westminster City Council | Westminster Adult Education Service | Grosvenor | Chocolate Films | City Lions | Iris Theatre | Step Change Studios | Open Age | Hoop and Glory | Silvia Mercurliali | St. Andrew’s Club | Westminster Guides | Susan Furber | St. James the Less | St. Saviour’s Music | Musicus | Pimlico Picassos | Westminster Music Library | Emmanuel Church | Citizen’s Art Market | Westminster Abbey | Millbank Creative Works | Tate Britain | Dodie Finamore | Westminster Community Gospel Choir | The Pimlico Million | FinnFitness | Jan Timms | Lillington and Longmore Gardens  Residents Association | Westminster Talking Therapies | Queen Mother Sports Centre | Change4Life | One You | The Abbey Centre | Sketch Appeal | Pimlico Musical Foundation | Maxine Jones | Brian Richmond PT | Dr. Bike | Pimlico Toy Library

      Head to our What’s On Page for the full Festival Diary

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Take Part In SouthWestFest

SouthWestFest Returns for Summer 2021

We are pleased to announce that we will be bringing SouthWestFest back for summer 2021. This year we are ‘Reimagining’ what our community festival looks like and plan to take SouthWestFest to the Streets of south Westminster with a 3 week programme including pop up performances, creative activations, Art Trails, Health Trails and more.

SouthWestFest is a community led event, and there are plenty of ways for local organisations, groups and members of the community to take part.

 Open Access Event Programme

Host your own event, workshops or activity as part of our part of our 3 week celebratory cultural community festival programme which is SouthWestFest. This year the festival will be running from the 2nd to the 23rd July 2021.

The festival is open access and we encourage local community groups, organisations, artists, creatives and individuals to host their own events and activities as part of this community celebration.

Events registered should be either free or very low cost. The aim of the festival is to get local community members out into the area to try new activities and learn about local groups, services and venues in an accessible manner.

This year you can register both online and physical/live events (ensuring they are Covid secure)

This year we are theming our programme…

2nd – 9th July : Health & Wellbeing

10th – 16th July: Arts & Culture

17th – 23rd July: Celebrate Community

It is FREE to register your events in our festival programme! By registering your event or activity as part of our Open Access Programme, you will be included in our printed brochure and on our website in the run up to and during the festival. In return, we ask you to co-promote your event along with the festival, and on registering we will send you our Partner’s Pack which includes a guide on how to co-promote your event as part of the festival.

CLICK HERE to register your event or activity.

Take part in our Online & On Foot Art Trail

Building on our inaugural Art Trail last Summer,  we are aiming to create south Westminster’s biggest community Art Trail to date!

Are you a local artist that lives or works in south Westminster? Then we want you to get involved! The aim of our art trail is to feature  artwork that is created by local artists; bringing art into the community by the community.

The Art Trail will run from Saturday 10th to Friday 16th July 2021:

Online Trail: hosted on our website so that those that are not able to walk around the local area easily can still easily access the art

On Foot Trail: taking place in local venues/residential windows or gardens/public facing spaces so that those who can, can walk around the local area, discover your work, new spaces and be out in the community

the Art Trail Launch Day on Saturday 10th July, will include extra special celebratory pop-up performances and guided tours of sections of the trail.

CLICK HERE to submit your artwork for the Art Trail

Other Ways to Get Involved

There are plenty of other ways to get involved in year’s festival, just head over to our Take Part page to find out more…

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SouthWestFest 16 Years Strong – Legacy Report

2020 marked SouthWestFest’s 16th year working in south Westminster, and has provided us with an opportunity to reflect on our work, and reimagine the future of the festival. 

It can often be hard to quantify the intangible ‘feel good’ benefits of community events and talk about why a cultural community festival such as SouthWestFest deserves public support and funding. However, from the knowledge and experiences gained over the last 16 years of event delivery, we are keen to show how our festival offers important benefits and long-term impacts to residents of south Westminster. 

To support this reflection we have conducted research and produced the following report ‘SouthWestFest 16 Years Strong’ within which we have chosen to analyse the work of our festival, its impacts and benefits including wider research to support our understanding of what community festivals have to offer the people they serve. You can read the report as a PDF here or online here .

Objectives of this report are to:

1) Review our work over the past 16 years, drawing on case studies from the festival, plus feedback and evaluation, to understand where we are today.

2) Review and understand our audiences, the makeup of our community and some of the challenges that they may currently face.

3) Investigate and understand the benefits and wider impact our festival can offer, looking specifically at the areas of health and wellbeing, community engagement and education, volunteering and participation, placemaking and the local economy.

In producing this report, we have used feedback, case studies and data collected by SouthWestFest over the years, in addition to conducting desk based research and analysing evidence from statutory, industry and academic sources.

We hope it offers some deeper understanding of the long term impact of our work and our collaborative activities with community partners, as well as inspiring you to think about how you might like to ‘reimagine’ the festival with us for 2021 and beyond.

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