Free Crawley Arts Festival Starts Today With 'Crossings' On Tilgate Lake

The inaugural Around the Lake Festival in Tilgate Park launches today and runs until Sunday, starting with Crossings by artist Luke Jerram as he casts off rowboats on Tilgate Lake.

Residents of Crawley and anyone from further afield are invited to experience Tilgate Park in a whole new way with a lineup packed full of live performances, art installations, drop-in-art and more.

Visitors to the festival can experience stories on rowing boats, circus in the forest, a new peacock puppet, a special bee colony especially for Crawley, poetry trails, foraging workshops and more.

The festival is free to attend.

Around the Lake Festival will feature Luke Jerram’s Crossings, Mimbre’s Weight(Less), and a range of Without Walls outdoor performances and creative workshops.

Crossings is a new sound installation artwork created by world renowned artist Luke Jerram in collaboration with BBC Radio 4 producer Julian May.

Starting at 11am and free to experience, audience members are invited to board a rowboat and row out across Tilgate Lake while listening to eleven audio stories about boats, birds, sounds, the sweet potato, plastic, and people.

Crossings creator, Luke Jerram commented:

“I am delighted to bring Crossings to Crawley’s Around The Lake festival and for audiences to experience this artwork on Tilgate Lake - completely for free! To truly celebrate Crawley, a new local story will be added to the audio, marking a moment for this town and community. Reserve your slot online, come on down and listen to our stories.” 

Weight(Less) by Mimbre is described as 'a joyful escape from the chaos of everyday life, celebrating the courage it takes to keep on going when times are tough'. Blending acrobatics, movement and humour, the show 'dismantles big problems into moments of laughter and celebrates hope'. Mimbre returns to Crawley after a successful performance in Broadfield Barton Shopping Parade, Broadfield as part of Broadfield Arts Festival in 2023. 

With six different performances to see and five creative ways to take part; Around The Lake will encourage visitors to explore and celebrate the green spaces of Tilgate Park through seeing, tasting and hearing the park in a whole new way.

Creative Playground is part of the Without Walls network, which brings the best in outdoor arts to towns across England. They are including five shows from their programme, as part of Around The Lake Festival and Saturday Sessions.

Around the Lake Festival is supported by Arts Council England and Crawley Borough Council. Crossings by Luke Jerram was originally commissioned by Compton Verney Art Gallery & Park.

Around the Lake Festival - line-up

Saturday 13 July - Sunday 14 July, 1 - 5pm (Crossings running until Wednesday July17)

Live Performances/Installations

• Crossings by Luke Jerram: Saturday 13 - Wednesday 17 July (45 mins)
• Bonded by Alleyne Dance (Without Walls): Saturday 13 July (30 mins)
• Bees: The Colony by Artizani (Without Walls): Saturday 13 - Sunday 14 July
• Teabreak by Trigger (Without Walls): Sunday 14 July (30 mins)
• Mughal Miniatures Walkabout by Sonia Sabri Company (Without Walls): Saturday - Sunday (30 mins)
• Weight(Less) by Mimbre: Sunday 14 July (30 mins)

Take Part Activity

• Art Workshops with Snooze Fabric: Saturday 13 - Sunday 14 July
• Foraging Walk with Rights for Weeds: Sunday 14 July
• Spoken Word & Poetry Workshops with Woodzy: Saturday 13 July
• Self-led Poetry Trail from Crawley Writers Circle: Saturday 13 - Sunday 14 July
• Self-led Crawley Stories Podcast by Theatre Centre, Creative Crawley & Creative Playground: Saturday 13 - Sunday 14 July

Images clockwise from top left: Weight(less) by Mimbre - Image credit Rachel Hardwick; Mughal Miniatures Walkabout - Image credit Irina Mackie; Bees: The Colony by Artizani (at National Theatre) - Image credit Artizani; Bonded by AlleyneDance - Image credit Jane Hobson; Crossings by Luke Jerram - Image credit Compton Verney; Gateway to the World by Alec Saunders - Image credit Rosie Powell