Girvan Arts Festival to include 'something for everyone' in packed programme
After the success of the Inaugural Girvan Arts Festival, bosses wanted to pull out all the stops in 2023 and showcase the very best of the town’s creative talent.
Organisers of the Girvan Arts Festival say they are creating an event that will have ‘something for everyone’ and are hoping it’s even better in its second year of running.
After the success of the Inaugural Girvan Arts Festival, bosses wanted to pull out all the stops in 2023 and showcase the very best of the town’s creative talent.
With the majority of events being held in the town’s community garden at the Dome, the festival will have workshops and masterclasses hosted by a mixture of local talent and creatives from further afield.
It’s being held over the first weekend of June on the 3rd and 4th.
Alan Jeans is part of the organising team, and is telling Greatest Hits Radio the festival does a lot to put Girvan on the map.
He said: “ When we first thought of bringing the festival back, we just felt it was something that was desperately needed in Girvan. There is a lot of creative people about, but nothing to showcase that.
“It is something that adds to the town, it’s good for the locals, and it might also get some people from outside the area interested in coming down for the weekend.
“We feel Girvan is slightly undeveloped as an area, it’s got great potential for tourism. Every event that we will have on this weekend will just add to the bigger picture and make Girvan more attractive to come to.
“With Arts in general suffering badly over the last decade, small projects like this are important to highlight and encourage creativity in the local area.”
Saturday’s events will kick off with one of Scotland’s top play writers, and local son of Girvan, Douglas Maxwell with his show ‘Setting the Stage’.
Douglas will be talking about how Girvan shaped his work, the Scottish theatre scene, and making a life as a writer.
Other events on the Saturday include local boat builder Lex McCleary’s a life in the boatyard, Kayleigh Johnston’s ‘The Art of Distilling’, and a showing of Cinema Paradiso in the Girvan Library.
Sunday events include Alex Wilson’s Woodturning Workshop, and locally born chef Scott Murdoch’s ‘Mackerel, Sea to Plate’.
Chef Scott Murdoch is currently the head chef at Culzean Castle and Country Park and has previously cooked in a 2-Michelin Star restaurant in France as well as other kitchens around the world.
The event will showcase Scott’s skills in filleting, curing and fish cookery to whet the appetite. Scott’s food will also be available to taste at the end of the demonstration.
Organisers have set the price at £5 to attend all of the events in a bid to allow everyone to enjoy during the cost-of-living crisis.
You can purchase tickets for it on Eventbrite and find the full festival programme on their websites.