Full programme revealed for this year's Keighley Arts and Film Festival

Saturday, 24 September 2022 22:52

Organisers of next month's Keighley Arts and Film Festival have unveiled a programme of more than 40 events, with new attractions added to existing favourites.

The annual cultural festival will take place over three days from 7th to 9th October 2022.

Keighley Creative, the arts charity that organises the events, said the focus of the festival will be on showcasing talent from Keighley and the wider Bradford district. Events are either free to attend or low-cost and will be staged at venues across Keighley.

A Peace Meal, with the theme Journeys into Keighley, will take place on the evening of Friday 7 October at Keighley Shared Church. Cathryn Murray, festival and events coordinator for Keighley Creative, said: “This community Peace Meal aims to build bridges between people who might not have an opportunity to meet.

“It’s a chance to socialise, enjoy good food in the company of neighbours and discuss ways that communities can build stronger connections between each other. Curry will be served and there will be a number of talks and a screening of Ruth & Safiya, a short film by local filmmaker Louisa Rose Mackleston, about a pensioner who befriends a Syrian refugee.”

Irene Lofthouse’s popular Royal Arcadians tour returns, offering Friday visitors the chance to travel back in time as they enter the subterranean shopping street beneath the Keighley Royal Arcade.

Cecil Green Arts make a welcome return to Keighley Arts and Film Festival on Saturday 8 October, with a lantern parade of stars in Cliffe Castle park, led by Punjabi Roots Academy’s dhol drummers and bhangra dancers. Additionally, festival visitors will be able to enjoy the party as the Peace Artistes are back by popular demand performing all across Keighley on the Saturday.

Keighley-born stand-up poet and BBC Radio 4 regular Kate Fox will return to her home town on the Friday for a performance of her show Where There’s Muck, There’s Bras, a comic and thought-provoking show about Northern Powerhouse, Northern Women, the sung and the unsung.

Qaiser Mahmood’s Qawwali Group, one of Europe’s finest Qawwali Groups will be performing at Keighley Creative on Saturday 8 October. Qawwali is a traditional Sufi music form that works its way to ecstatic peaks with strong voices and percussive hand claps.

The programme also includes a number of workshops for audiences to try new skills, stand-up comedy, film screenings, buskers, dance and much more.

Most of the festival’s events are free, but there are some ticketed events, for which booking is now open.

The full schedule can be viewed online by tapping here (or see below)