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| All hail HannaH – a new festival celebrating 'great stuff' in the north | All hail HannaH – a new festival celebrating 'great stuff' in the north |
| (17 days later) | |
| HannaH asks three questions: what great stuff is happening in the North now, who is doing it and how can more of it happen? The festival will highlight new activities in any field, including arts, science, business and social organisation. | HannaH asks three questions: what great stuff is happening in the North now, who is doing it and how can more of it happen? The festival will highlight new activities in any field, including arts, science, business and social organisation. |
| "Great stuff" might sound a bit vague, but it has a meaning to anyone who has ever been a fan, or tried to make anything new in any field: it means you know it when you see it. | "Great stuff" might sound a bit vague, but it has a meaning to anyone who has ever been a fan, or tried to make anything new in any field: it means you know it when you see it. |
| The festival – in Leeds from 12-16 June – will include arts and music, conversations, architectural concepts, new policy ideas, new science and technology, family-friendly activities, local craft beers and a pop-up shop selling hand made products from across the North. | The festival – in Leeds from 12-16 June – will include arts and music, conversations, architectural concepts, new policy ideas, new science and technology, family-friendly activities, local craft beers and a pop-up shop selling hand made products from across the North. |
| As a working example, I'm using the Small Cinema project in Moston, Manchester. A group of artists and local volunteers got together and turned an empty room at the Miners Arts and Music Centre on a working-class estate on the edge of the city into a working cinema. It's even got rows of red velvet chairs. It's an inspirational project, built on creativity, co-operation and hard work. | As a working example, I'm using the Small Cinema project in Moston, Manchester. A group of artists and local volunteers got together and turned an empty room at the Miners Arts and Music Centre on a working-class estate on the edge of the city into a working cinema. It's even got rows of red velvet chairs. It's an inspirational project, built on creativity, co-operation and hard work. |
| It might seem strange to be using a project from Manchester to illustrate a festival happening in Leeds, but the festival is about how, through sharing and co-operation, places in the North can keep their own fantastic identities, and at the same time become more than the sum of the parts. | It might seem strange to be using a project from Manchester to illustrate a festival happening in Leeds, but the festival is about how, through sharing and co-operation, places in the North can keep their own fantastic identities, and at the same time become more than the sum of the parts. |
| That magical process of becoming more than the sum of the parts, has a name, coined by Brian Eno, "scenius", the genius found in places. It's worth noting that scenius doesn't just apply to the arts, it can happen in new technology or even rock climbing. | That magical process of becoming more than the sum of the parts, has a name, coined by Brian Eno, "scenius", the genius found in places. It's worth noting that scenius doesn't just apply to the arts, it can happen in new technology or even rock climbing. |
| But I can't possibly answer the three questions the festival asks for such a wide range of specialisms and in such a big place as the North of England. And I shouldn't even try. | But I can't possibly answer the three questions the festival asks for such a wide range of specialisms and in such a big place as the North of England. And I shouldn't even try. |
| Instead, to discover new events this year and every year the festival draws on the expertise and enthusiasm of people living and working here. I've gone to people in Leeds and asked them if they'd like to create an event. They'll put on things they want to see happening, making links with other people and places in the North and internationally. | Instead, to discover new events this year and every year the festival draws on the expertise and enthusiasm of people living and working here. I've gone to people in Leeds and asked them if they'd like to create an event. They'll put on things they want to see happening, making links with other people and places in the North and internationally. |
| For example, Gill Park from Leeds arts organisation Pavilion and artist Amy Charlesworth are working with Berlin-based Madeleine Bernstorff to organise a screening about the Suffragettes and early cinema. That will take place in the old courtroom of Leeds town hall, where lots of suffragettes were sent to prison. | For example, Gill Park from Leeds arts organisation Pavilion and artist Amy Charlesworth are working with Berlin-based Madeleine Bernstorff to organise a screening about the Suffragettes and early cinema. That will take place in the old courtroom of Leeds town hall, where lots of suffragettes were sent to prison. |
| Everyone who is creating events this year is giving their time without being paid. I don't like asking people who are already doing so much to contribute without a fair exchange, and my aim in future years is to raise enough sponsorship to pay artists and put money into a sustainable ecology of grass roots activities. But this year I have to ask for more than I can give in return, or the festival won't happen. | Everyone who is creating events this year is giving their time without being paid. I don't like asking people who are already doing so much to contribute without a fair exchange, and my aim in future years is to raise enough sponsorship to pay artists and put money into a sustainable ecology of grass roots activities. But this year I have to ask for more than I can give in return, or the festival won't happen. |
| It feels right to include as many people as possible in making the festival, and for it to be a collaboration across the North, so I'm using Kickstarter to raise money for things like the PA hire for music events, and a really well-designed, printed programme. I need to reach £2,000 to cover the running costs, with a very short deadline, and all of the money goes into the creative economy of the North. | It feels right to include as many people as possible in making the festival, and for it to be a collaboration across the North, so I'm using Kickstarter to raise money for things like the PA hire for music events, and a really well-designed, printed programme. I need to reach £2,000 to cover the running costs, with a very short deadline, and all of the money goes into the creative economy of the North. |
| In return for a pledge of £20 or more, people get a fantastic limited edition print by the acclaimed Print Project (who feature in the brilliant Leeds Print Festival). Print Project do fantastic typographic designs, and they make them on old printing presses "powered by hand, foot and eye". | In return for a pledge of £20 or more, people get a fantastic limited edition print by the acclaimed Print Project (who feature in the brilliant Leeds Print Festival). Print Project do fantastic typographic designs, and they make them on old printing presses "powered by hand, foot and eye". |
| The last question the festival raises, of course, is why is it called HannaH? It's named after Hannah Mitchell (1872–1956), a suffragette and rebel who was a lifelong campaigner for democracy and fairness. She was put in Strangeways prison in Manchester during the fight for votes for women. | The last question the festival raises, of course, is why is it called HannaH? It's named after Hannah Mitchell (1872–1956), a suffragette and rebel who was a lifelong campaigner for democracy and fairness. She was put in Strangeways prison in Manchester during the fight for votes for women. |
| As well as politics, Hannah Mitchell tried to create "beauty in civic life" and this blossomed in her work on public libraries, parks and gardens. I've really enjoyed Hannah Mitchell's autobiography, along with Leeds writer Jill Liddington's Rebel Girls. The northern suffragettes – working-class young women who made change happen in the places they lived and worked – are a fantastic inspiration for rebellion now. | As well as politics, Hannah Mitchell tried to create "beauty in civic life" and this blossomed in her work on public libraries, parks and gardens. I've really enjoyed Hannah Mitchell's autobiography, along with Leeds writer Jill Liddington's Rebel Girls. The northern suffragettes – working-class young women who made change happen in the places they lived and worked – are a fantastic inspiration for rebellion now. |
| Hannah Mitchell's story is part of one great sustainable resource we have to draw on, which is the North's history of radicalism and innovation. It's not nostalgia though, it's about using what Leeds designer and writer Matt Edgar calls "narrative capital"; stories that power the future. | Hannah Mitchell's story is part of one great sustainable resource we have to draw on, which is the North's history of radicalism and innovation. It's not nostalgia though, it's about using what Leeds designer and writer Matt Edgar calls "narrative capital"; stories that power the future. |
| • You can support the HannaH festival by visiting its Kickstarter page | • You can support the HannaH festival by visiting its Kickstarter page |
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