|
Steve
Cox, the Festival's coordinator says: "the North Wiltshire
Festival is a marvellous opportunity to highlight and promote the
amazing depth of talent to be found in the district.
 |
| Steve
Cox, Festival Project Coordinator, Mike O'Brien, Talentspot
and Councillor Ross Henning. |
"More
importantly, it will go far beyond the Pop Idol approach to talent,
to include talent in every area of life, from business to technology,
media to music, tourism to cooking and much more."
Steve
says that this year's Festival promises to embrace all the major
towns and villages in the area by taking the Festival on the road.
"If
this Festival is anything, it is a Festival for the whole community
to enjoy," he says.
Steve
and his team are working with Mike O'Brien and David Oliver from
The Talentspot, who hope to help build-up a stream of readily-available
talent and then develop interactive relationships between that talent,
their fans and supporters and the wider industry.
Mike
told BBC Wiltshire: "Everyone has talent, but it is difficult
to spot, even harder to develop and almost impossible to sustain.
"The
three-way relationships created by The Talentspot generate ever-expanding
links between these three groups," he adds.
Mike
and David have been working on the Talentspot idea for over a year.
They
approached North Wiltshire District Council for help in setting
up the business and were introduced to Steve Cox, the Festival Project
Leader.
"We
quickly realised we could help each other. The Festival would provide
us with a great platform to launch the business and the Talentspot
Tour '04 would create an exciting, interactive edge to the Festival,"
says Mike.
|
The
TalentSpot Tour '04 is open to everyone, from novices to gigging
artists, over the age of 16.
•
You don't have to live in any of the Festival towns and you
are free to apply to any of the Tour gigs.
•
A number of experienced musicians will assess which acts are
ready for the Saturday Night shows and text voting by fans
will also be taken into account.
•
The allocation of all slots will be discussed privately with
the talent involved.
•
All feed back will be positive and aimed at helping talent
develop to the next level.
•
Any act that doesn't make it through to a particular Saturday
Night slot will be free to apply for another slot at one of
the remaining Tour gigs.
•
Talentspot gigs will continue on past the main Festival event
to provide regular showcase opportunities for talent to develop
in front of live audiences. So if at first you don't succeed…
book another Talentspot slot.
•
More details (including dates and times) here
|
"For
me, I want to see all ages taking part in this very special event,"
says Steve, "not just bands but soloists, dancers, comedians,
even classical musicians.
"In
my opinion, the Festival is a 'brand' that should embrace and promote
all that's good about the North Wiltshire area and Festival 2004
will try to kick-start that message.
"Let's
take this opportunity to shout to the rest of the UK and tell them
that North Wiltshire is alive, well and a haven for some of the
most talented people in the country."
The
North Wiltshire Festival
16 - 18 July 2004
Monkton Park Chippenham
|
View a 
More
