Although at times when submerged in the depths of the lockdown days it was impossible to think of any positives, looking back now mask-less and relatively care free there were silver linings to that COVID cloud. One local example being the brilliant Cloud9 festival which was born out of lockdown as Jane, one of the festival’s founders, tells CommunityAd.
Jane, firstly, how long have you been involved with Cloud9?
My colleague Ruby Baker and I invented Cloud9 during the lockdown in April last year. It started as an idea about spreading joy to people while we were all isolated and since then we have developed that idea into a festival day and three creative community projects; a festival choir, hip-hop dance classes for kids and a public art project.
What’s your role and what do you enjoy most about it?
I’m the co-producer alongside Ruby and lead on the marketing and communications for the festival. This year I produced the community art project; Words As Windows. We invited the public to send us a sentence of positivity and had more than 200 people submitted their ideas.
We chose 10 that have been made into public art pieces and can be found in windows across Swanscombe, Ebbsfleet and Northfleet. They’ll be in place until September.
How would you review the first Cloud9 festival?
A whirlwind of excitement and fun. Seeing people get involved in new projects, making friends, and having fun has been a highlight.
We know that people haven’t been socialising the way they used to – and it’s been wonderful to see people outdoors, enjoying live music and performances again.
It’s so nice for the community to have live events again, isn’t it?
It’s important too – the role of ‘community’ is something that is really important, maybe more now than ever. Looking out for one another when times are testing and celebrating together during the good times.
Why is it so important that communities such as Ebbsfleet and Greenhithe have access to the arts, as well as an event calendar to get everyone suitably excited?
Don’t forget Swanscombe and Northfleet! The arts can often be seen as a ‘nice thing’ to have, but they are so important to a person’s wellbeing, to have a try at a new skill, to make something, to sit with your friends and family and watch a performance or see music, they bring people together, they inspire people, create pride in community and help spread happiness.
Growing up I remember the annual parade that would come down our street – with a marching band, and all kinds of groups from the local area taking place. It was a highlight in the year and something you never forget.
On the merit of this festival are there realistic hopes this could be an annual celebration?
We certainly hope so, this year’s event was commissioned by Ebbsfleet Development Corporation and Creative Estuary and in partnership with The Grand Healthy Living Centre, with other incredible local partners helping us make the event happen. We couldn’t do it without the support of our partners.
Any stand-out moments or highlights for you and the team?
We took two surprise performances to The Hive on festival day, and the reaction was incredible. People were dancing in the street to the samba band and having fun with the street artists. I’d love to be able to do that again.
Jane finishes by telling us that having grown up in Swanscombe and now residing in Northfleet “creating an event in your home patch is something special. A massive thanks to everyone who supported this new festival and came along and got involved in a project and festival day. We really do hope you enjoyed it”.