FEATURE: BLOOMSBURY FESTIVAL - Celebrating a crucible of culture
Published: 20 October, 2011
IT is an area synonymous with groundbreaking medical research coupled with a whole era of literature, a postcode married to an art school, with some of the country’s finest Georgian architecture as a back drop.
So it is hardly surprising Bloomsbury demands a festival all of its own.
Festival director Roma Backhouse said one of the pleasures of programming the events is to move away from the idea that Bloomsbury is all about Virginia Woolf and her gang. Today’s Bloomsbury has so many different ingredients in one small area – and her programme sets out to celebrate this.
“This is an amazing area,” she says. “You just have to look at what is here. In less than a square mile it is culturally amazing. There is this extraordinary wealth of culture and thinking.
“Our job is to make what is here already more visible to the public; make people aware of what goes on throughout the whole year. Everything on show is based in the area already.”
The director says the range of things on show illustrates how Bloomsbury is not the preserve of the Bluestockings of the pre-war period.
“It is full of independent shops tucked next to massive institutes.
“It’s a part of town that gets thought of in a 1920s time warp way, but it has so much more than that. It is up there as one of the most creative areas of London and therefore the world.”
And she hopes as well as people coming along to enjoy a mixture of art, performances, music, shows and talks, the very fabric of the area will be the star.
“There is some really interesting and beautiful architecture, lots of secret gardens and, of course, the squares to explore.”