From Frankenstein to Reggae sauce, the first Sydenham Arts Festival celebrates a fine artistic heritage, with a panorama of events running from Friday July 3. Festival Director Jonathan Kaufman took a few minutes out of his hectic schedule to tell us more…
DOV: Where did the idea of a Sydenham Arts Festival come from?
Jonathan Kaufman
JK: The festival grew out of the highly successful Independent Booksellers’ Week at Kirkdale Bookshop last July. We had six or seven events over a week and at the time said: ‘Next year we’ll have an arts festival!’
From this small seed, word soon got round and before we knew it Lewisham Council were funding us and we had created a committee of volunteers willing to help. It’s the first year we’ve done anything like this, though Sydenham Music stage their International Festival every year (and have done successfully for ten years).
DOV: What type of festival did you want it to be, in terms of style and atmosphere? It seems quite varied and with a big emphasis on community involvement.
JK: The aim of the festival was always about celebrating local artistic talent – there are so many actors, artists, musicians, writers, dancers and poets in the area that it was natural to make that the focus. We do have some performers and participants coming from beyond, but the majority live in SE26 or SE23. Besides that we have striven to make the festival diverse, with wide appeal, and something for everyone, young and old.
DOV: How did you personally get involved?
JK: My background is in the theatre – I ran the Brockley Jack theatre from 2000-2001 and was formerly the Artistic Director of the Colour House Theatre in Colliers Wood. I formed a company of professional actors from those I met working at Kirkdale Bookshop and we staged plays in the shop in October 2007. Last summer my company (Spontaneous Productions) staged the sell-out run of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in The Dolphin Pub’s Garden. This was so successful (we had to put extra nights as it sold out so quickly!) that I was proposed as overall director of the new Festival in September, an honour indeed!
DOV: What’s been the hardest part about putting it together?
JK: The easy part was putting the programme together since we had so many brilliant events proposed early on. The hardest part has been the boring stuff, the nuts and bolts of the planning – health & safety, insurance, performing licences, technical issues, legal contracts (which I’m still doing!) not to mention fundraising and general management of finances – not an area that I’m either familiar with nor always confident about doing, but it’s been a steep learning curve and we’re getting there.
The other hard thing has been saying no to those who have come to me with ideas after the festival programme was finalised – but there’s always next year!
DOV: Which events are you most looking forward to?
JK: Too many to pick out really – but if pushed I’d say the events I’m personally responsible for – the big Street Celebration event on Saturday 4th which launches the festival, this includes buskers in the high street, a beach (and Levi Roots of Reggae Reggae Sauce fame) outisde the bookshop, as well as Punch & Judy and theatre in the Launderette.
Then there’s Sydenham’s Got Talent on Sunday 5th July at Champion Hall – the cream of local youth music and dance go head to head in an X Factor style competition for a cash prize. And the Free Film Show at Home Park on Tuesday 7th where we’ll be showing the black and white classic Bride of Frankenstein (starring two Lewisham locals, Boris Karloff and Elsa Lanchester) as well as shorts by local film-makers.
And lastly I’d have to mention my own show, Ocelot Gymkhana, which starts the proceedings on Friday 3rd July, again at Champion Hall. This is an evening of short, mostly comic, plays and sketches written by myself and my brother Julian. Collectively we’re known as The Brothers Kaufman and we have been producing theatre together since we were kids.
Phew! Sounds like it’s going to be a busy few weeks. For the full programme and more details, see the festival website at www.sydenhamartsfestival.com.
