Continuing a ‘well-description’ as one of the most distinctive, novel and deliciously off-kilter events in a very crowded festival calendar, Sea Change Festival has just announced the first names for their 2020 festival which will be based entirely on the Dartington Hall Estate next year for the first time. Among those confirmed are Shirley Collins, Tim Burgess, Field Music, Vanishing Twin, Squid, Working Men’s Club, Dry Cleaning, Katy J Pearson, Porridge Radio and Keel Her.
They shared the following on what’s to come:
As it heads into its fifth year, Sea Change Festival has quickly become one of the most distinctive, novel and deliciously off-kilter events in a very crowded festival calendar. The 2020 event will be based entirely on the 1200 acre Dartington Hall Estate, finding its way into beautiful green spaces and William Lescaze’s twin Modernist masterpieces, Foxhole Gymnasium and High Cross House.
Now Sea Change is overjoyed to reveal the first artists confirmed for the 2020 Festival:
- Writer, broadcaster, curator and leader of The Charlatans, Tim Burgess, joins us in Devon for the first time at Sea Change. He’s just been announced for SXSX in March, and Sea Change will be part of a full year.
- Folk institution and one of the most treasured traditional song performers, Shirley Collins, will return to Sea Change – having spoken on a panel in 2017 – to be part of two hugely exciting projects for 2020, celebrating her storied history and forward-thinking energy. We’re pinching ourselves!
- The Mercury-nominated Field Music will give a very rare live festival performance of their World War I concept album Making A New World, accompanied by archive film on the Festival’s wraparound HD video wall.
- Vanishing Twin, whose 2019 Fire Records LP ‘The Age Of Immunology’ is receiving huge plaudits in the end of year charts, especially in top 100 album charts from record shops Drift, Piccadilly, Resident and Rough Trade.
The festival’s eye for emerging talent is widely recognised and the 2020 line-up already reads like a ‘ones-to-watch’ list: Squid, Working Men’s Club, Dry Cleaning, Katy J Pearson, Porridge Radio and Keel Her.
Continuing to welcome an intimate 2000 people only, the evolving Festival site will feature a new venue programmed by Rough Trade Books, a specially-built radio stage broadcasting live in partnership with SoundArt Radio, a concert series at the seven hundred-year-old Great Hall and the return of chef Patrick Hanna’s Summersisle restaurant.
Founded by Totnes’s Drift Record Shop and curated by people who spend all day listening to new records, Sea Change’s music choices are exciting, surprising and always sound; but it also reaches into other disciplines, creating artful combinations and magic moments in tucked-away corners of the historic site. Last year saw Stewart Lee leading a packed and emotional audience in a rousing chorus of the songs of Bagpuss; On-U Sound producer Adrian Sherwood DJ-ing in the Overlook Hotel-like surroundings of the Dartington Gymnasium; and the Modernist masterpiece High Cross House coming to life with live sets, discussions and specially-commissioned events and installations.
As it moves into the storied surroundings of the historic Dartington site, the Festival is taking steps to ensure that it creates a legacy and inspires a community way beyond the late May Bank Holiday Weekend when it takes place.
This year’s Festival is subtitled ‘Let Us Face The Future’, a nod to the discussions that took place at Darlington and led to the writing of the 1945 Labour Party manifesto of the same name, which introduced a programme of reform under Prime Minister Clement Atlee that brought about the NHS and the welfare state.
Sea Change Founder Rupert Morrison said, “We could not be prouder about the amount of creative energy that Sea Change brings to the south west, but there is a danger that this further compounds the quietness outside of those weekends and the lack of opportunities for emerging artists. We are passionate about where we live and committed to building a scene that genuinely supports live arts. At Dartington, Sea Change is based on a site that has historically welcomed generations of free thinkers. The estate is intrinsically special, its spirit is under our skin and we want to create something intimate, rare and special that will inspire a community. We’re planning so much more for 2020; there are many announcements to come, confirming guest speakers, distinguished friends, music makers and plenty of new activities and installations designed to harness the spirit of the inspirational estate.” Among the new initiatives taking place this year:
- A new partnership with King Edward VI Community College (KEVICC), Totnes, which will see an emerging act playing live at the Festival. Students will also be brought into the festival production team to gain first-hand experience and long-term involvement in Sea Change.
- The School of Noise will run free workshops, encouraging the exploration of music and the science of sound. The School provides imaginative activities using sound in accessible, fun and educational ways. Activities include learning about the science of sound, playing on rare instruments, composing experimental sound art, field recording, conducting orchestras of fruit and vegetables, sound walks and learning about acoustic ecology.
- Independent, non-commercial, community station Soundart Radio, which will broadcast live from the Festival, will run free workshops on making a podcast. It will also invite young people on air. Launched in 2006 as an experimental student radio station at Dartington, Soundart later became the, still experimental, community radio station for Dartington and Totnes.
- Pirate Studios will working with Sea Change to support young and emerging talent with its network of rehearsal, DJ, production, podcast and dance studios.
- Journalist and critic Emma Warren will be breathing fresh life into High Cross House and drawing parallels to London’s Total Refreshment Centre venue and her thrilling book ‘Make Some Space’
FESTIVAL INFORMATION Dates: Friday 22 – Sunday 24 May 2020. Information and tickets: seachangefestival.co.uk Camping at Dartington: dartington.org/seachangecamp