Who we are

Richmond Arts Service’s vision is to build community through creativity. We aim to foster creativity and enjoyment of the arts, enable people to reflect on their lives and develop new ways of seeing the world.

Richmond Library Service’s vision is that the people of Richmond upon Thames will feel fulfilled in their daily lives, empowered and enriched to realise their potential through their library service, a service at the centre of their communities.

The Arts and Libraries Services are part of Richmond Borough’s cultural services which also includes Sports and Parks & Outdoor Spaces

Why are Libraries and Arts Services developing Richmond’s festivals

In 2020 the council created a new vision for culture, Culture Richmond’s new 10-year framework, the new festivals programme is a response to this.

The festival programme will provide opportunities for people to engage with each other through culture across the year and in different ways.

What are the main elements of the programme?

The main blocks of the programme will be an arts and ideas festival in Spring; Know Your Place, a heritage and history festival in early Autumn and a reading season in late autumn winter. During summer family friendly events and children’s activities will be programmed.

The Arts Service are developing plans for a new arts and ideas festival.

The Library Service is developing plans to expand the reading offer and enable residents to engage with a broader range of events and activities all year round. The focus will be on reading for pleasure with inclusive programming for initiatives including a new season of Richmond Reads events and activities.

What will the new festival of Arts and Ideas hope to do

The festival will present the arts as a way to take a fresh look at the world, our lives, and how things might change for the better.

The festival will be a Richmond Borough festival. It will be engaging and fun and reach the widest possible audience offering new ways of looking at issues of importance to the Borough’s communities through the arts.

The festival themes are togetherness and change as the festival aims to gather our community alongside artists, cultural observers, writers, and change makers for stimulating, meaningful and thought-provoking experiences, enriching lives and inspiring positive change.

The festival has the following objectives:

• Be a local catalyst for creative responses to local and global issues and ideas, connecting with civic society and inspiring positive change within local communities.

• To introduce our residents to a diverse range of artists, speakers, and change makers that represent a myriad of perspectives, backgrounds, stories, and experiences, expanding perceptions and enriching lives with meaningful and educational experiences.

• Reach a more diverse audience and to involve younger people in their local community and civic society.

• Reflect the diversity of arts, encouraging and celebrating interdisciplinary approaches and different media

• Achieve national recognition for the Borough as the home of a unique, extensive, and diverse range of organisations working in the field of culture, heritage, invention, and innovation.

Who will develop and deliver the festival?

The festival will be led and developed by Richmond Arts Service. It will be embedded across the Borough by developing a wide range of partnerships, including high profile and grass roots organisations. We will coordinate the festival around a theme exploring global issues with depth and breadth that educates, surprises, and inspires action. The festival will offer a range of events, including a variety of artforms and levels of participation.

When will the festival happen?

An initial pilot festival will take place in May 2023. This will lead to a larger and more ambitious festival in 2024 linked to Culture Richmond’s Cultural Reforesting programme. The longer-term intention is to establish an annual arts and ideas festival building on the partnerships formed in 2023 and 2024.

Can I be involved?

Yes, we are reaching out to a range of organisational partners in the first instance and will be sharing opportunities for individuals to engage with the programme later in the year.

What will the new Richmond Reads season hope to achieve?

The Richmond Reads season of events and activities will celebrate reading for pleasure in all its many forms. The love of stories binds people together and encourages sharing, empathy, tolerance and understanding of others and the world around us.

The Richmond Reads season seeks to reach people across local communities, offering audiences of all ages new ways to engage with reading, words, ideas and each other; enriching lives and growing potential.

The theme is stories - of people, places, thoughts and feelings; bringing other viewpoints and worlds to life here in Richmond. Authors, storytellers, publishers, performers, researchers, illustrators, readers and listeners will all be part of the heady Richmond Reads mix. The Richmond Reads season has the following objectives:

• To introduce our residents to a diverse range of authors, storytellers, publishers and performers that represent a range of perspectives, life experiences and stories; expanding perceptions of what reading is and what libraries can offer to enrich their lives.

• To inspire positive learning experiences through stories that can help local people to understand and make sense of the world around them as it rapidly changes.

• To develop a reading culture in Richmond that not only appeals to a traditional libraries audience but uses inventive and creative ways to highlight the benefits of reading for everyone.

• To reflect the diversity of human experience in story form as people have throughout history and celebrate reading as the gateway to understanding ourselves and each other.

• Achieve national recognition for the Borough as the home of a unique, extensive, and diverse range of organisations working in the field of culture, heritage, invention, and innovation.

Who will develop and deliver the Richmond Reads season?

The Richmond Reads season will be led and developed by Richmond Library Service. It will be embedded across the borough using the network of 12 libraries as well as other community venues, community partners and an online offer taking reading into people’s homes. A variety of story formats and forms will be celebrated as part of this initiative, showcasing the power of reading.

When will the festival happen?

Some initial trial events will take place in autumn 2022 as part of Libraries Week and Black History Month. This will lead to an inaugural Richmond Reads programme in 2023 that will be fully embedded in the library calendar. The longer-term intention is to establish an annual Richmond Reads season building on the achievements of 2022 and 2023.

Can I be involved?

Yes, we are reaching out to a range of organisational partners in the first instance for Richmond Reads 2023 and will be sharing opportunities for individuals to be part of the programme later in the year.

Literature Festival FAQs

Is the Literature Festival happening?

No, the Literature Festival will not be part of our Arts and Libraries programme this year

Will there be other Literature Festival type events I can go to?

Yes, several organisations are putting on events related to books this year and we will promote these. The new Festival of Art and Ideas in the spring will include literature and books in its scope and the autumn reading season, Richmond Reads, will also celebrate and explore written and spoken words.

Why have you cancelled the Literature Festival?

The Literature Festival had been successful for many years but was no longer reaching a large or wide enough audience. People and art are constantly changing and we want to develop a festival programme that reflects the breadth of creative practice and engages a wide range of people.

When we reviewed our Festivals programme we decided to develop a new more broadly based arts festival in Spring, it is not a Literature Festival but will feature events about books amongst other things. We will also be programming a season related to books and reading in autumn 2023.

We will continue to support organisations that are planning literature events this year and in the future.

Is this dumbing down?

Our vision for our festivals programme is to be inclusive and offer people from all walks of life a chance to explore ideas and art that excites them. We are also committed to bringing great art to Richmond as well as supporting artists who are developing their practice in the Borough. This means bringing challenging ideas and new work to the Borough which we think is the reverse of ‘dumbing down’.

How can I let you know my views?

We are always interested in residents’ feedback and views on our developing plans. You can get in touch with Arts on artsinfo@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk and Libraries on libraries@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk 

Sounds great, how can I be involved?

Yes, we are reaching out to a range of organisational partners in the first instance and will be sharing the programme with audiences later in the year.