29 April 2010: For Immediate Release

Winchester Hat Fair is delighted to announce the dates of the

2010 Hat Fair and the celebrations surrounding its 36th year.

www.hatfair.co.uk

"Winchester Hat Fair has become an Outdoor Arts Festival of National and
International significance." - ARTS COUNCIL SOUTH EAST

"One of the great pleasures of Street Arts festivals is that they make you slow
down and put the wonder back into everyday life. Wherever you were in
Winchester at this years' Hat Fair, you could hear the distant sound of laughter –
as if the whole town was smiling together." Lyn Gardner – Theatre Critic, The
Guardian, Monday 6 July 2009

Hat Fair, Winchester, the UK’s longest running and most exciting Street Theatre
Festival, is delighted to announce the dates for this year’s 36th festival – Thursday
1 July to Sunday 4 July 2010.

Now even bigger and better than last year, Hat Fair 2010 continues to uphold its
reputation for presenting innovative and beautiful outdoor performances, exciting,
unique and highly skilled small-scale shows and an engaging programme of
community arts and education, woven skillfully into the heart of the beautiful city of
Winchester.

This year’s Hat Fair will offer four amazing days, jam-packed with hundreds of
breathtaking performances from over 40 national and international companies
taking place throughout Winchester’s ancient streets. And remarkably in a credit
crunch world, Hat Fair doesn’t charge the 30,000-strong audience a penny, though
donations are welcome.

Named after the tradition of throwing donations into performers’ hats, Hat Fair
started as a buskers’ festival in 1974. Now, 36 years later, its evolution has been
fascinating and astounding.
The 2010 programme is both explosive and inspirational, featuring 44 artists and
companies from all over the globe including the United Kingdom, Australia,
America and France.

As ever, there are community and education projects including Inside Out Day on
Thursday, involving a procession through the city by local school children who
knock on the doors of civic buildings, asking senior representatives of the City a
questions of choice. Organised this year by theatrical company Wet Picnic, Inside
Out Day will prove more progressive and innovative than ever more.

Martin Tod, PPC Lib Dem, commented “One highlight for me is Inside Out, where
local children walk down the High Street and ask people from a range of different
jobs and professions to come out and answer their questions. They're definitely
some of the hardest questions I've had to face!”

Friday is traditionally Schools Day with a colourful procession of over 1000

children in costume with music and dance, culminating in outdoor theatre, circus
and craft workshops in the grounds of the city’s famous cathedral.

Keith Wilson, Business Improvement District Manager, Winchester City Centre

Partnership Ltd said, “Hat Fair is tremendously important for Winchester. Aside
from the huge increase in footfall and trade the festival brings to the city the real
value is in the sense of community and coming together the event gives the people
of Winchester. Winchester city centre is a great place to be the whole year round
but Hat Fair really is a truly unmissable and joyous moment in the annual
calendar.”

Sian Thomas, Artistic Director of Hat Fair Celebrations, enthused “Hat Fair is a
wonderful thing! Now in its 36th year, the Hat Fair has the feeling of a European
festival in the way that it feels owned by the people of the town, the vibrancy of the
programme and the fiesta atmosphere".

Without Walls – www.withoutwalls.uk.com

Without Walls is a consortium of eight of the UK's most strategically significant

street arts festivals, who have come together to develop and present work from a
new generation of street artists.

In 2010 Without Walls has commissioned and supported seven UK companies to

produce new work, encouraged new artistic collaborations and present a tour of
exciting new outdoor performances for the festival season.

At Hat Fair we are very proud to be a founding member of this consortium and to
be able to present these new performances over the weekend.
The Without Walls Festival Consortium consists of the Brighton Festival, The
Bristol Do, Greenwich and Docklands International Festival, Stockton International
Riverside Festival, Winchester Hat Fair, Norfolk and Norwich Festival, Cumbria
Lakes Alive and X.Trax Manchester.

The ZEPA Network - an INTEREG Funded partnership.

Zone European de Projets Artistiques

The ZEPA Network is an exciting and innovative Trans-National partnership

between 5 UK and 4 French Street Theatre Arts Producers, Festivals and their
producers.

Over the next 3 years the ZEPA partners will work together to commission,
produce and present a good number of outdoor arts shows and projects, Hat Fair
being just one.

Working with both UK and French Outdoor Artists, ZEPA partners will be
presenting work on the streets of the INTEREG region of Northern France and
Southern England from Cornwall to Brittany, Great Yarmouth to Amiens,
Newhaven to Rouen and many other places in between.

There will also be many other artistic and creative personal exchanges alongside
the presentations, including workshops, volunteering opportunities, education and
inter-generational projects.

ZEPA hopes these projects and events will touch the hearts of all who engage,
watch and participate.

The ZEPA partners are;

Winchester Hat Fair

Southampton City Council
Brighton Festival
Seachange Arts – Great Yarmouth
ZAP Arts
Culture Commune – Loos en Gohelle
Amiens Metropole and Le Hangar - Amiens
L’Atelier 231 -Sotteville les Rouen

Hat Fair Markets

The Hat Fair Markets are a vibrant part of the celebrations with a strong focus on
local and original goods and produce. This year’s stalls include hand-made
diachronic and silver jewellery, original artworks, juggling equipment and crafts
from Thailand, India, Tibet, Africa and Morocco amongst other countries.

There will be a range of food and drinks available in Oram’s Arbour on Sunday a
location which hosts our annual Hat Fair Picnic with arts, crafts, food and drinks
available throughout the day.

Hat Fair Schedule of Events

Thursday 1 July:
10.00 – 14.30 Inside Out Day

Friday 2 July:
10.30 – 17.00 Hat Fair Kicks Off
18.30 – 20.45 Evening Programme

Saturday 3 July:
11.00 – 23.00 Daytime and Evening Programme
18.30 – 23.00 Street Continental

Sunday 4 July:
12.00 – 18.00 Hat Fair Picnic at Oram’s Abour, Winchester

-ends-

Notes to Editors

Hat Fair is a registered charity number 00400059.

For further press information, interviews and digital images please contact:
Mikey Martins, email mikeyhatfair@googlemail.com, phone 07971 201469