KAF (Kidderminster Arts Festival) will swing into action on the 13th of August and will run six days a week until the 27th of August, with a marathon of workshops, exhibitions, shows, street performances, live music and more. There is something for all ages and tastes and most of it is free. Round up your summer with a great range of high quality entertainment bringing Kidderminster town centre to life. Why not join our facebook page KAF arts, where you can keep up with all local arts events, funding, and even job opportunties.

KAF is still looking for buskers for our busy market days, pitches provided with electricity free to performers of all kinds, each Thursday and Saturday. Email arts@wyreforestdc.gov.uk or call 01562 732 977 for details and to book in your time slot.

‘KAF Creatives’ an independent group of artists who use KAF to present a range of arts activities devised a scheme of ‘guerrilla arts projects’ for KAF this year. ‘Ode to a beer mat’ was one such project, led by Heather Wastie from Brewers Troupe the group left specially created beer mats around pubs in the Kidderminster area. The mats invited customers to write about their favourite pub, tipple or any pub related subject in a six line ode. Over 80 submissions were received from around the district. The winners will be announced at a launch event at the beginning of the festival, the odes are displayed in an exhibition of Urban Art which includes work from the Subway Deluxe artists at Kidderminster Library Gallery from the 4th of August to the 3rd of September. This announcement was due to be made at the Brewers Troupe performance of SNUG.

Sadly, SNUG due to be presented at the King and Castle on the 16th of August, has had to be cancelled due to unfortunate circumstances. Brewers Troupe hope to reschedule the performance so please contact them directly if you would like to attend, email info@brewerstroupe.com for more details.

The Ode competition will still go ahead, you can see the many entries in the Urban Art Exhibition at Kidderminster Library Gallery as mentioned previously. The winner will be notified directly. The competition was a huge success and attracted entries from all walks of life. The winners work will be uploaded to the KAF page on the Councils website, www.wyreforestdc.gov.uk Many of our workshops are now fully booked but some have spaces remaining so don’t leave it until the last minute, go online and book you place now. www.wyreforestdc.gov.uk/KAF