Totnes' Sea Change Festival to go ahead in 2021

Sea Change Festival 2021

Saturday 28th August 2021
Dartington Hall Estate, Totnes, Devon, TQ9 6EL, England MAP
£39.99

Daily capacity: 2,000

After a year out in 2020, Sea Change organisers have confirmed the Totnes based event will return as a one day event to present a full day of music, film and conversation on Saturday 28th August 2021 in various venues across the Devon town, including St Mary’s Church, the Totnes Cinema, The Barrel House Ballroom and The BulI Inn.

The first acts confirmed are White Flowers, JOHN, Anna B Savage, The Orielles, Anna Phoebe, Breathe Panel, DJxKWF, and Heavenly Records DJs. There's more to be announced.

The festival is programmed with loads of interesting events across the weekend, including MIRRY: From The Shadows Into The Light an installation and live experience (with musicians Tom Fraser and Simon Tong) that dives into the magical music and archives of Mirabel "Mirry" Lomer.

White Rabbit Books will be in conversation with Jeff Barrett and Robin Turner and author Roy Wilkinson about 'Believe In Magic' (charting the first thirty years of Heavenly Recordings) and Gordon Burn Prize winning author David Keenan, who will be talking about his masterly fifth novel, Monument Maker.

Sea Change's return comes as many festivals remain in jeopardy and are being forced to cancel for a second year running. Given the ongoing precarious situation across the arts, Sea Change's road back to life will be purposefully gradual, with the immediate emphasis being on bringing a safe, small and manageable event to Totnes this year.

Director Rupert Morrison explained: "After the journey we've all been on, we'd never be complacent about being able to get people back to congregate safely. We've designed a day of live arts for intimate audiences that enables us to bring people back together with safety. We've kept it as small as we can and there will likely be some social distancing measures, but, whereas large events will continue to be so susceptible to governmental COVID parameters, our scale enables us to present a euphoric live experience. We can't wait."

Sea Change is committed to bringing new and exciting events in music, art, film, literature, conversation and culture to the South West and specifically Totnes. All events will follow Sea Change's original mission statement, 'Always intimate, always different, always special, always rare'. Rupert Morrrison added, "I remember how different the town felt on those first few weekends. It was more alive than it had been in decades and everyone felt it. We're still really in love with the town and we're going to bring Sea Change to Totnes for a full weekend from 27th - 29th May 2022. We've started production now and it feels great getting back to it."

As it returns, Sea Change also announces the formation of an advisory board to support its events, which includes Venue Group Head Of Production Chris Pollard; Rough Trade Books co-founder Nina Herve; live arts programmers Chris Bye, Susanna Grant and Kirsteen McNish; artists Matthew Shaw and Jenny Frances; press officer Michael Barrett; artist manager Andrew Ellis; journalist and broadcaster Laura Barton; and Heavenly Recordings founder Jeff Barrett. One of the board's first commitments has been to sign up to the PRS-supported Keychange movement, a global network working towards gender equality in the music industry.

Rupert Morrison explained: "We wanted to see this past year as a complete redux; a one-time opportunity to really look at what we're doing and where we want to be. The members of the board have all been instrumental in Sea Change's successes so far and I am thrilled that I have been able to call on them all to ensure that we continue to head towards something genuinely different."

Tickets

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Tickets are priced £39.99 per person and this will be exchanged on the day for a wristband that enables you access to all four venues throughout the event. + There are no child or young person tickets, but under 12s can attend for free (but must be accompanied by an adult at all times).

The idea of this event is that although there will likely be some elements of social distancing in place that may affect capacity, the programming runs concurrently across all of the spaces so that you can always find something thrilling to be part of.

The full three-day Sea Change event will return to Totnes from 27-29 May 2022.

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