Hope Fest For Homeless

The Live Music Festival for the Homeless in Liverpool
18th - 20th September 2015

By Colin Serjent

Following the success of last year's three day festival, which used five venues, accommodating nearly 80 bands, Hope Fest this year will triple the number of venues to be used.

They have also forged new partnership links with The Whitechapel Centre, The Basement Advisory Centre and The Big Issue In The North.

A difference with this festival is that the entrance fee is not monetary but instead people attending will be asked to donate a 'Hope Pack', consisting of food and clothing, which will be given to Liverpool's homeless via Hope Fest's partners. When you donate a 'Hope Pack' it will give you access to all of the venues over the weekend of 18th- 20th September.

A new innovation with this year's event is the running of training programmes and work experience positions for those affected by homelessness. These roles include stage management and administration, among other positions.

"This year we are taking over Liverpool with lots of venues getting involved in this musical extravaganza." said Anna Grace Henney, founder and director of Hope Fest.

"We're excited to be working with Crisis, the Big Issue and the Whitechapel Centre," she added," to offer work experience positions to their service users. Our sponsors Hampson Hughes solicitors, Give2040 and The Florrie have been brilliant in helping us achieve what we have done so far this year.

Hundreds of bands have applied to take part. Some of the bands confirmed so far include Alias Kid, Alan McGee's new proteges, as well as Beatnik Hurricane (featuring Barry Sutton and Cammy, formerly in the La's).

"Our limited time on this spinning rock," said Sutton, "should be punctuated by acts of compassion...we are one family. Beatnik Hurricane is a collective and we are delighted to support Hope Fest and their efforts to address one of the many inequalities in our dog eat dog society."

"We are so glad to be playing this festival," remarked Sean O'Donnell from Alias Kid. "While others are feeding their pockets the Hope Fest are helping to feed people. I am honoured they asked us to play. It looks set to be huge this year! We will rip that stage up for them."

Confirmed venues include The Krazyhouse, The Magnet, The Zanzibar Club, The Baltic Social, Bumper, Studio 2 in Parr Street, The Jacaranda Club, EVAC, and The Brink.

For more details about Hope Fest:

www.HopeFest.org.uk
Facebook.com/HopeFestLiverpool
Twitter.com/Hope_Fest_

Printer friendly page

Sorry Comments Closed