Guest Northern Highlight - Just So Festival

GUEST NORTHERN HIGHLIGHT

Sarah Bird, Co-Director of Just So Festival 



Can you start by telling us a little bit more about Just So festival?


Just So is a family festival with a love of stories and childhood escapades at its heart. It allows families to step out of their day to day lives and into a wonderland of world class literature, arts, theatre, dance, music and creativity together. 

We took our name from Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories because the festival was originally on a site that overlooked Rudyard Lake near Leek. It’s where Kipling’s parents courted in the 19th Century, and they loved the lake so much that they named him after it. We’ve now moved to the Rode Hall Estate in Cheshire, but we kept the name Just So because telling stories is what the festival is all about. 



What unique qualities does your location bring to the festival? 


It’s really important to us that Just So takes families out into nature, to encourage them to play, create and dance in the great outdoors and inspire them to think differently about the world around them. The Rode Hall Estate is the perfect festival site with loads of space to explore, woodlands to adventure through, lakes to dream by, parkland to relax in. The site is carved out into areas which spark curiosity, encourage dancing, offer time for quiet contemplation, themed around books, circus, food, dance, music and storytelling. There’s something to capture everyone's imagination.

Would you like to share with us features of the next event?

There’s so much to look forward to at Just So this year! We’ve got some amazing live music from Hope and Social, K.O.G and the Zongo Brigade, and Theo Mizú & Banda - the best street band in São Paulo. And an acrobat will be floating above the treetops suspended beneath a giant helium balloon in an outdoor arts show called Helisophere, which I can’t wait to see. There’s also loads of Just So traditions which happen every year, from the magical midnight feast to the fiercely competitive Carnival of the Animals. But my favourite thing about Just So is watching all the families enjoying time together outdoors - it’s magical. 




What is for you the spirit of the North? 

I’d like to think it’s collaborative, friendly and generous with a can-do attitude and a little dose of anarchy and mischief thrown in for good measure. 



Can you share any thoughts about how creative industries in the North can better support and encourage the work of creatives working with or for children?

I think collaboration is the answer to most things. We’re all part of a wonderful creative ecosystem, and if this last couple of years has taught us anything maybe it’s how interdependent we all are, from funders, to programmers, artists, audiences, volunteers, supply chains… The more we can inspire, connect, amplify and shine a light on each other the better, and challenge each other too. Children are the most rewarding audience, they deserve the very best, the most provocative, nurturing, inspiring and captivating work possible. 


What is your favourite children's book set in the North?


As we’re in Cheshire I think I’ll have to say The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner. It’s hard to walk at Alderley Edge and not feel like those knights are about to charge out from the rocky landscape beneath your feet… if ever there was a place filled with magic and possibility, it’s there. 



The next Just So Festival will take place from Friday 19th to Sunday 21st August 2022.

Instagram: @Justsofestival
Twitter:@justsofestival
Website: www.justsofestival.org.uk


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