Staying with the theme of the children’s programme from earlier this week, we have now sold out of the family event Pluck and all the other shows are selling quickly.

Those who have been unable to get tickets for Pluck have been pleased to learn that we do have a similar show called Anna and the Moods. It’s on Thursday 29th May at 2:30pm in Salisbury Playhouse and is written by Academy Award nominated, Bjork collaborating, Icelandic writer SJÓN from an original commission by the Brodsky Quartet. Julian Nott, composer of the Wallace and Gromit soundtracks has written the music, and John Telfer known for his part in The Archers, narrates.

I think the story explains a little more:

There once was a girl named Anna Young who lived happily with her family. One day, Anna’s parents were waiting for their perfect daughter to arrive at the breakfast table and kiss them good morning as always. But on this particular morning, Anna woke up with a horrible illness – she’d turned moody!

Worried about what was wrong with their daughter, Anna's parents decided to take her to Dr. Artmanns' clinic for kids with behavioral problems. However, the cure that followed turned out to be a nasty surprise for her parents.

If you’ve ever been a teenager, live with a teenager or have children of who behave like teenagers (this show is suitable for age 6 upwards) then come and join the fun.

Well what a crazy week we have had! Thousands of flyers were delivered to our door about a week ago and we’ve been working non-stop to get them out for everyone to see.

I went round 15 primary schools on Tuesday and met some lovely receptionists as I delivered our children’s festival flyers. Our children’s programme this year is fantastic and one show we are really excited about is Feather and Stone a show of movement, light and music created especially for the 1 – 4 age group.

Our Big Play on the 30th May is a day full of fun, with story telling and music all based around this years festival theme of Africa. And for the more adventurous there will be exciting activities such as circus skills and street dance.

So you can see why we are desperate to get all these flyers out to you especially as there are many events during half term and that’s not far away.

We are now on count down to the festival with only five weeks to go! And with the Easter holidays now out the way we are all focused on bringing you the best festival ever.

Things have been hindered somewhat this past month as Jo fell down the stairs in Barbados and broke her ankle in five places. After a very painful trip home she is now on the mend and sending plenty of emails to colleagues in the office, from her sick bed at home.

This time of year it’s all about getting contracts signed and organising accommodation and travel for our artists, whilst marketing for individual shows builds up speed.

The literature programme this year sees a diverse range of talks and readings. We have Patrick French who will discuss his authorised biography of local resident V. S. Naipaul, which has caused some controversy since its publication with revelations about Naipaul’s relationship with his first wife. This is contrasted by Antony Woodward and Robert Penn who give a light hearted and highly entertaining reading from their book The Wrong Kind of Snow which is a detailed compilation based on the British obsession with the weather. For the ever growing number of us that want to be green we have Crap at the Environment, featuring comedian Mark Watson and unreconstructed hippie Brig Oubridge, who take a look at Mark’s attempts to save the world which led to him being recruited by Al Gore to spread awareness of global warming. And the Green Food Debate which delves into the world of healthy and ethical eating.

As you can tell we’re all excited about the variety and diversity of this year’s festival and I hope you all are to.

Well it's been awhile since we've been in touch but thats good news because we have been so busy selling tickets!!
The tuesday we launched the full festival progamme we had people queuing out of the door for tickets at the playhouse and equally busy in the festival office as we now have our own box office located here. So I would like to apologise to anyone stuck waiting for ages but it will be worth it!
We have events selling out quickly but to no surprise with old favourites like Sandi Toksvig. Plus inspiring Nobel Peace prize winner Archbishop Tutu.
So it's all good fun here as we meet all you lovely ticket buyers. Its nice to see some friendly faces as with the easter holidays half of the office is having holidays!! The festival will be here before we know it!

Hello and a happy 2008 from the festival team. As Jo is now in the throws of working hard for what will be her last year as Salisbury Arts Festival director the festival team will be taking over her blog to bring you up to date and exciting news.
We had our Highlights Launch on the 3rd of December which was a fantastic evening. The shows are proving immensely popular with the Rainbow Choir which combines Salisbury Community Choir and the Fezeka School South African Choir almost sold out. The office is currently buzzing as we are getting ready for our brochure launch on the 25th February. The programme of events is currently top secret but it will not disappoint.

Now that this year's Festival has ended we are straight into planning 2008. Next year's Festival will be my final one as Director here and we are planning some wonderful things. The theme is REJOICE and we have an artistic focus on SONG and the cultural spotlight will be on the British Isles and AFRICA. So you can imagine the vast array of art and culture that offers for programming. So over the next few months we will be budgeting, programming and fundraising in order to put on the 08 event -we are also busily planning the Food Festival which happens in September. And in August I will go to Edinburgh to scout for shows. It's non-stop in the Festival world!