Derby Cathedral Quarter has teamed up with Derby-based arts promoters Furthest From the Sea to organise a monthly arts event to attract more people into the area and showcase local talent.
The monthly event entitled ‘CQ Saturdays presents - Knickerbocker Glorious’ will launch on Saturday May 18 with a host of musicians, comedians, poets and dancers on stage at the waterfall in the Market Place between 11am and 3pm.
This will be complemented by further street entertainment around the area including, for the first event, a caricature artist, Cliff Shelton who will be working in Sadler Gate – creating drawings of visitors for £5 for singles up to £10 for family portraits.
Musician and arts promoter Matt McGuinness is from Furthest From the Sea – so called because of Derby’s land-locked location.
He explained: “The Cathedral Quarter prides itself on being individual, diverse and inspiring and we needed something quirky to reflect the unique attributes of the area and the independent businesses here.
“Although the name ‘Knickerbocker Glorious’ is unusual, it perfectly reflects what we are trying to do - tempt people into the area with something new and exciting and incorporate lots of different layers and surprises with a large degree of spontaneity to engage and involve the audience and create a feel good factor in the area.
“By bringing together established and emerging artists with a wide range of talents – we aim to make this a firm fixture in people’s diaries so that they keep returning to the Cathedral Quarter to enjoy live entertainment and then everything else that the area has to offer.”
The second event will be held on Saturday June 15 and will then feature as part of a day-long arts extravaganza ‘Furthest From the Sea’ in the Market Place on June 29 which has been organised by Matt and a huge team of volunteers – featuring around 150 artists.
Matt continued: “Derby is becoming known as a festival city and we hope that this will be such a huge success that it quickly becomes part of this growing calendar.
“There is a huge wealth of talent in this area and the monthly ‘Knickerbocker Glorious’ and ‘Furthest from the Sea’ events will be fantastic showcases for artists with something for all the family to enjoy.”
Paul Hurst, vice chair of the Cathedral Quarter management group, which drives forward activities under the area’s Business Improvement District Status, concluded: “The objectives of the Cathedral Quarter include providing a great lifestyle experience for visitors and people working in the area to enjoy and to create a platform for businesses to promote themselves and attract new customers.
“Knickerbocker Glorious is the first stage of a wide range of weekend events over the summer under the ‘CQ Saturdays presents’ banner which will give people another reason to come to the Cathedral Quarter and create opportunities for businesses to get involved through special promotions and their own events.”
For more information about the monthly ‘CQ Saturdays presents’ events in the Cathedral Quarter, visit www.derbycathedralquarter.co.uk, follow on twitter @DerbyCQ and ‘like’ the official