From 2nd – 4th July, Ports Fest will invite audiences to Remember, Reimagine, Reset with a festival of music, art, talks, and workshops, providing something for everyone.
The festival kicks off on Friday 2nd July with several events for Portsmouth schools, including an online live talk from former children’s laureate Michael Rosen, and an opportunity for pupils to grapple with our theme of Remember, Reimagine, Reset by debating whether we should reset to normality after COVID-19. In the evening, we will welcome Slapstick Picnic to the beautiful gardens of Portsmouth Museum for a reimagining of The Importance of Being Earnest, as well as host the face of the 2021 sea shanty revival, The Longest Johns, for a concert in the PGS Quad.
Saturday morning will see Art Space Portsmouth opening their 33 artists’ studios and renowned gallery, after which visitors might like to wander over to Portsmouth Cathedral for their annual ‘Seafood on the Green’ rustic picnic lunch. In the afternoon, the author and journalist Will Self will be giving a live talk, whilst Circo Rum Ba Ba will take over the Guildhall Square with an enormous inflatable sperm whale for their interactive theatre production about protecting the seas and resetting the planet. Saturday evening will see a musical extravaganza, featuring Duncan Sandilands from vocal quartet G4 as both host and performer.
On Sunday, visitors might like to make the most of our many events running throughout the festival, such as the thought-provoking exhibition, In Search of Chemozoa at Aspex Gallery. Later, television presenter Michaela Strachan will join us live from South Africa to talk about her work spanning over three decades.
Ports Fest 2021 will go out with a bang on Sunday evening, with the London Mozart Players closing our concert series, and an open-air film screening of the documentary Drop City.