Come and have a go if you think you're art enough
Rebecca Szoltysek talks to Julia Thorley about the plans and ambitions for Kettering’s Have A Go Arts Festival
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Kettering Arts Centre at St Andrew’s Church has built a fine reputation as a versatile and inclusive venue for the arts in all its forms. Administrator Rebecca Szoltysek is currently busy coordinating the workshops and the artists that are going to be taking part in the Have A Go Arts Festival on March 1. She explains the thinking behind the day.
“The main reason for holding the festival is that it’s an opportunity to celebrate the arts and artists of the town, who come from a variety of backgrounds. It’s a free event to give something back to the community and offer people the chance to come and try all sorts of art-based activities, but it’s also a place where artists can network, as well as promote their work.”
The first festival was held in 2022. Tom Houston, vicar at St Andrew’s, felt the arts weren’t being celebrated collaboratively and that there was a gap in the local community for arts to come together. This year’s festival will be the third. There was a break in 2024 because the church was undergoing extensive refurbishment, but Rebecca is confident the momentum they’d started to build won’t have been lost.
“We are optimistic that people will come back, despite the break.
“In previous years we’ve had hundreds of people through the door and of course this is one measure of the success of the day. Even if numbers are down, though, we’ll be happy if those who do come have a good time and tell us there was enough on offer.”
Groups supporting the event this year include Picture The Difference, Cobbled Together, poet Kezzabelle Ambler, Johnny’s Happy Place, Kettering Cultural Consortium, ArtWorks, ISM Music Academy and Deep Roots Tall Trees. Some will be there in person, while others are offering funding and support behind the scenes.
“The main space in the body of the church will be filled with groups offering a range of drop-in activities on different themes. Some will be run by the church and some by external groups. There’ll be load of things – crafts, colouring, making and doing, and a fun writing activity, the Long Story, where people add a sentence or two to an ongoing tale. It will be free-flowing. Even though we hope there’ll be lots of people attending and we might have some music in the background, it’s usually a calm atmosphere, and some of the activities are quite therapeutic.”
In the church rooms at the back of the building there will be workshops that people will be able to book for in advance, although if there’s space people will be able to turn up on the day and see what’s on offer. It all starts at 10am and runs until 3.00pm.
Rebecca has been involved in arts and performance most of her life.
“I think I’ve tried everything in the past – knitting, sewing, crochet, lace-making – and at one time I would have said I could have done all of those, but if you don’t use those skills they disappear and now I can’t even knit properly. I used to knit with my grandma. She was a proper seamstress and would make outfits for our Sindy dolls and sew costumes for us, but knitting was her forte and she carried on doing it well into her 90s.
“Dancing was my first love. I started really young. Funnily enough, the group I was in moved to St Andrew’s, so I’ve danced in the church rooms here. I grew up performing at The McKinley and The Castle, and the old Willow Theatre in Corby, which I loved. Then at 18 I went away to study theatre, by which time I’d started to sing in bands and to act more, but I came to realise I didn’t just want to focus on dancing. Believe it or not, there was a very brief conversation about me applying to the Royal Academy of Ballet, but I didn’t love ballet more than anything else I did. I haven’t been on stage in a while, and instead I love directing and choreography. I’ve just finished a panto with Kettering Youth Theatre, which was fabulous.”
The Have A Go Arts Festival has evolved since it started, not least because the people that participate change, including the team from St Andrew’s. Rebecca believes this brings a fresh feel to the event each time.
Further information about what’s on offer, to book a space at a workshop or take part as an artist or practitioner, contact office@ketteringartscentre.com or find the event on Facebook.
Sounds interesting but what dates is it on please?