Harborough student organises celebrities for high-profile city arts festival
Former Robert Smyth School pupil Leigh Juin has helped organise some big names for De Montfort University's Cultural Exchanges festival.
Harborough student Leigh Juin has helped gather a host of famous figures to take part in a week of cultural events at Leicester’s De Montfort University.
Headlining guests at this year’s Cultural Exchanges festival, which starts today (Monday) and runs until Friday, include fashion designer Zandra Rhodes, stand-up comedian Jasper Carrott, fantasy novelist Alan Garner and internationally-acclaimed choreographer Matthew Bourne.
The festival features lectures, talks, debates and performances and gives dedicated final-year BA (Hons) Arts and Festival Management students the chance to plan and run a real-life festival.
This year the festival has been organised by 18 students, working together to bring events that suit all tastes.
Former Robert Smyth School pupil Leigh, (22), said: “This is an incredible opportunity to put everything we have learnt in the past two years into practice.
“I have volunteered for previous years’ Cultural Exchanges so it’s really exciting to be on the other side and see how everything is run. I am part of the marketing team working as Press and PR Office, I am a member of the programming committee and I’m working as a project manager also – doing Cultural Exchanges really allows you to dive into event organisation and allows you to do as much, or as little, as you want.”
Highlights will include Zandra Rhodes (inset, bottom), whose collections have clothed the likes of Princess Diana, Freddie Mercury and Kylie Minogue, who will be ‘In Conversation’ from 6pm tonight (Monday).
Tomorrow (Tuesday), Jasper Carrott (inset, top) will be chatting about his illustrious career from 7pm, while on Wednesday, novelist Alan Garner, whose bestsellers include The Owl Service, Elidor, The Moon of Gomrath and The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, will be the star attraction from 6pm.
Thursday will see Matthew Bourne (4pm), the recipient of numerous Tony and Olivier Awards for his work in performances such as Edward Scissorhands, Swan Lake and, most recently, Sleeping Beauty. He has also featured on two Channel 4 programmes – one dance series and a documentary entitled Bourne To Dance, as well as his Swan Lake production featuring Billy Elliot.
About 4,000 people are expected to attend more than 50 events this year.
The full festival programme can be viewed at www.dmu.ac.uk/cultural-exchanges-festival.
The vast majority of events are free to attend but reserving seats is recommended. There may be a small entrance fee for events with headlining guests. Tickets can be booked online or through the Cultural Exchanges team on 0116 250 6229.
Story by Alex Blackwell
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Market Harborough
Wednesday 19 June 2013
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 12 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 12 C to 17 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North east
