Following on from the huge success of Barrow’s Festival of Colours last year, BarrowFull and The Forum will celebrate Spring traditions from across the UK and world in Festival of Colours, a brand new version of the event this April.

Last year’s event saw thousands of people enjoy celebrating the arts and culture of India and South Asia with creativity from Barrow and beyond. This year, BarrowFull and the Forum, under their new council of Westmorland and Furness will be hosting colourful and exciting traditions from across the world including those closer to home.

The event is free and suitable for all ages. Attendees will enjoy a vibrant mix of performances, creative workshops, live music and more in The Forum and Barrow’s stunning gothic-revival Town Hall on Saturday 1 April 2023.

Visitors will be able to watch Morris Dancing, puppetry, classical Japanese music which will invoke the Cherry Blossom Festival, take part in circus and weaving workshops and a wide range of other arts and crafts workshops such as creating your own Marzanna – the Polish tradition of doing away with the Winter Witch to welcome the Spring – and enjoy musical performances from local community acts as well as professional acts such as three-piece band Another Mister and the Boom Dang Band.

Visitors last year commented:

“It was brilliant; really well organised and the team were so helpful at pointing directions or making sure you didn’t miss things. The kids loved the sheer variety of crafts on offer and bounced from table to table in between stopping to watch dancing and listen to music. Well done to all involved”;

“It was colourful, the music was brilliant and all in all the sort of event we need more of”;

“friendly, welcoming & well organised. We all deserved this wonderful breath of fresh air – great fun”.

The free events will take place in the town centre, focusing on inside the Forum’s theatres and conference rooms, and in the Town Hall.

In the lead up to the public event, hundreds of local primary school children and older people from Age UK will take part in arts workshops with Korean artist, Woo Jin.

Daniel Tyler-McTighe, Creative Director of BarrowFull, said: “Last year’s A Festival of Colours was one of the highlights of our year and we are delighted to be partnering once again with The Forum and other local organisations to celebrate again with everyone in Barrow. We’re especially excited to be using the town’s beautiful Town Hall for some of the events – it’s an amazing space and we’re lucky to have it on our doorstep!”

As always, the event, sponsored by BAE systems, has been co-curated with local people whose ideas have shaped the programme.