2024
From whispers to shouts, this year’s Festival balanced intimate, introspective moments with spectacular bursts of community energy and movement.
A radiant Welcome Weekend was followed with an equally diverse programme across venues established and new. The 2024 programme was guided by three main threads: ‘Our East Voices’ championed local artists and the unique cultural identities of our region. ‘A Greener World’ encouraged us to think locally as well as globally in the face of environmental challenges. ‘Whisper & Shout’ celebrated the contrasting ways in which artists reach us and leave a lasting impression.
Festival Launch: Mo & The Red Ribbon
L’Homme Debout
Over five thousand people gathered to welcome Mo and launch NNF24 as the sun went down over Norwich city centre, following this poignant story of migration and war-torn families from a child’s perspective. Festival volunteers kept crowds safe during Mo’s walk, as the company members operated the 7.6 metres-tall puppet alongside pyrotechnics, giant-scale costume changes and a release of giant balloons over the crowd. A captivating experience, the Festival was begun with a powerful message of compassion and universal emotion courtesy of French company L’Homme Debout.
Programming Partners: In Situ and co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. Free Outdoor Sponsored by Page Bros Group. Supported by The Forum and the Paul Bassham Charitable Trust.
Corazón
Circolombia
This year, the Adnams Spiegeltent became home to Colombian circus outfit Circolombia, who entertained audiences with Latin rhythms, jaw-dropping stunts and traditional circus performance, such as the tightrope. Receiving it’s World Premiere at Norfolk & Norwich Festival, Corazón was also a Festival commission.
Sponsored by Dipple & Conway Opticians
Artist in Residence: Mahan Esfahani
Performing on the clavichord and the harpsichord, Mahan Esfahani was a captivating champion of the keys at this year’s Festival, treating audiences to World Premieres and Festival exclusive pieces. The residency included a solo performance at Octagon Chapel, a collaboration with Britten Sinfonia at St. Peter Mancroft and a secret show called Whispered Spells, for which the location was revealed on the day. Audience members were invited to the quiet Mayor’s Parlour of Norwich City Hall to enjoy Esfahani’s intimate clavichord recital.
With thanks to Director’s Circle Supporters, Julia Leach and Patrick Smith. Supported by the John Jarrold Trust.
Festival Connect & Create
2024 marked the first year the newly formed schools and community engagement team, Festival Connect & Create, had events during the Festival.
The team collaborated with artists, schools and community teams around Norfolk Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to create some of the Festival’s most inspiring projects to date. These included networking events, school engagement programmes and a greenspace project in Norwich, On Our Doorsteps.
On Our Doorsteps sat within ‘A Greener World’ and at the heart of this year’s Festival, created in collaboration with local people and Norfolk Wildlife Trust. Set within Sweet Briar Marshes, a new 90-acre green oasis nestled within Norwich’s urban area, the project invited you to explore a wilderness in the city. Six artworks were displayed on billboards and featured audio descriptions, inviting the public to engage with the art and simply enjoy the space at Sweet Briar. A message of access to art and access to greenspace for all.
All 2024 Events and Artists
The Adnams Spiegeltent
- Band Night – W3st, Isamya, Kitty Perrin, Floral Image
- Baque Luar
- Corazón – Circolombia World Premiere, Norfolk & Norwich Festival Commission
- Girl Ray
- Karine Polwart
- Laura Misch
- Lucy & Friends – Lucy McCormick
- Luke Wright’s Silver Jubilee
- Modern Ritual – Laura Cannell
- Nubiyan Twist
- Pongo
- Ragroof Tea Dance – The Coconut Club
- Ragroof Tea Dance – The Strawberry Ball
- Stick In The Wheel
Free Outdoor
- Berry Brown Bags – Raggle-Taggle Arts Norfolk & Norwich Festival Co-commission
- Bugs and Beetles Puppet Making Workshop – Norwich Puppet Theatre
- Crap at Animals – Mechanimal Norfolk & Norwich Festival Co-commission
- Das Brass
- Great Postcards from Yarmouth – Freshly Greated Norfolk & Norwich Festival Co-commission
- Handful of Time – Dot Howard and Sorrel Muggridge
- Island Storms – Bureau of Silly Ideas
- Joyland Snails – Freshly Greated
- Mo & The Red Ribbon – L’Homme Debout
- Now I am Become d/Deaf (Destroyer of Worlds) – Tit for Tat Circus
- Patois – Jeanefer Jean-Charles Norfolk & Norwich Festival Co-commission
- Up Jumped the Crab: A Story Of Cromer Now & Then – Crooked Timber Theatre & Gemma Khawaja
- Wire Attire – Sam Goodburn
- World Kiosk – Variable Matter
Classical Music
- Aurora Orchestra – Eroica By Heart
- Bach: Mahan Esfahani & Britten Sinfonia
- Chamber Choir Ireland English Premiere
- Chaos String Quartet
- Compline by Candlelight
- Geneva Lewis
- Mahan Esfahani – Solo Recital Inc World Premiere of Codex by Marcus Rock, Norfolk & Norwich Festival Commission
- Mahan Esfahani – Whispered Spells
- Michael Pandya & Andrew Hamilton
- Michael Pandya & Keval Shah
- Night Pipes: Olivier Messiaen Organ Works – Ashley Grote
Contemporary Music
- Apartment House
- Laura Cannel – Antiphony of the Trees
- Hinako Omori – Stillness Softness…
- Guildhall Sessions – Stick in the Wheel, Laura Cannell, Rakhi Singh, Tamsin Elliott, Una Lee and Sian Croose Norfolk & Norwich Festival Commission
- Jonny Greenwood – 268 years of reverb World Premiere
- King Creosote
- The Band Stand
- Barish
- Jack and the Giants
- Ross Stewart
- Eat Your Greens
- Lara Price
- Tadi the Great
- Eruantien
- The Winterlong
- KiraKira
- The VV Experience
- Flat Venus
- Lily Joan Hughes
- Althea Rose
- Murmurations
- Alis MacIntyre
- Kat Laws
- Grace Wells
Curated Dining Experience
- Feast From The East – Chef Alex Firman
Performance
- an Accident / a Life – Marc Brew & Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
- Common Salt and Common Salt Livestream – Sheila Ghelani & Sue Palmer
- Dark Tales From The Guildhall – Norfolk Folklore Society & Laura Cannell
- Fenland Elegy – Dan Canham Norfolk & Norwich Festival Commission
- HARD LEISURE – Susannah Hewlett
- Make Me (work in progress performance) – Molly Naylor & High Tide
- Memory of Birds – Tania El Khoury UK Premiere
- MOSH – Rachel Ní Bhraonáin UK Premiere
- On The Beach – Spare Tyre
- Phoenix Dodo Butterfly – Steve Waters
- Skydiver – Xenia Aidonopoulou
- Tess -Ockham’s Razor
- Through The Round Window – Robin Deacon
- TOAST at the Festival Speak Easy
- Dean Atta
- Harry Baker
- Kate Fox
- Luke Kennard
- Ross Sutherland
- Salena Godden
- The Book of Thetford Book Launch – Andy Field & Beckie Darlington
City Of Literature Weekend
Programmed in association with National Centre for Writing
- A Sign of Her Own – Sarah Marsh
- Book Binding Workshop – Judith Ellis
- Book Cover Design Workshop – Pam Smy
- Build A Community Picture Book
- Burnt TOAST
- City of Literature Publishing Fair
- Daring To Dream – Ferdia Lennon and Clare Pollard
- Grow Where They Fall – Michael Donkor & Santanu Bhattacharya
- Nature Writing Workshop: Inner Landscapes – Marchelle Farrell
- Page Against the Machine
- Picture Book Adventures – Kate Read
- Poems As Friends – Roy McFarlane & Hannah Jane Walker
- Poetry Workshop: Giving Place a Voice – Elizabeth Lewis Williams
- The Distance Between Us – Jon McGregor
- Uprooted – Marchelle Farrell & Jessica J. Lee
- Wandering Words
- Writing Conflict in Fiction – Michael Donkor
Visual Arts
- Caroline Fisher Projects
- Littoral: A Ceramic Installation
- Littoral Workshop
- East Gallery
- Fabricate: A Technicians’ Showcase
- GroundWork Gallery
- Art for the Environment
- Sensing Trees
- Houghton Hall
- Antony Gormley – Time Horizon
- Magdalene Odundo
- Norfolk Contemporary Arts Society
- Mali Morris RA, Painter Talks About Her Work
- Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery
- Daniel & Clara – The Lost Estate
- Holding Space
- Roger Ackling – Sunlight
- originalprojects;
- Susannah Hewlett – TV Dinners
- Susannah Hewlett – The Great British Cack Off
- OUTPOST
- Outpost At 20
- OUTPOST Street Party
- Screening Double Bill – Tenants in Revolt & Zone à Défendre
- Sainsbury Centre – What Is Truth? Season
- In Event of Moon Disaster
- Liquid Gender
- Jeffrey Gibson: No Simple World for Time
- The Camera Never Lies: Challenging Images Through the Incite Project
- Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Culture
- Celebrating 25 Years of the Sainsbury Institute: From Nara to Norwich
- We Live Here
- On Our Doorsteps