Woodbridge Festival ’23 with Jazzie B, Aswad & AMCA
This year Woodbridge Festival of Art and Music starts with a London launch party on 26 August and takes place over two days in Elmhurst Park on Friday 1 September (headlined by Caswell) and Saturday 2 September (headlined by Jazzie B – Soul II Soul ).
The Line Up includes Jazzie B – Soul II Soul, Aswad, A Man Called Adam, Ben Osborne, Chris Coco, Jimi K-Tel (Sancho Panza Sound System), Maella (Czech Republic). Trevor Jones (Aswad, Jah Warriors), Ipswich Reggae Choir, Charlie Law and more to be announced, plus NEW Wellness Area, including massage, yoga and workshops, Art Area with trails, workshops and screen print your own festival T shirt, Kids Zone/ Family area, literary stage, food village with four bars includingDelroys Caribbean Kitchen, Korean Kitchen, Wygyu Burgers, Fellows Farm, E5 Bakery, Ice Cream, Vegan Cafe, Mr Bees Craft Beer, Saltpeter Wines, Bubble Crew Prosecco Bar, The Table Spice Gin Bar and Suffolk Coffee Pod.
Tickets From £0-£30. Advance Tickets: Friday £5, Saturday £16, weekend £20. On door Friday £10, Saturday £20. Under 15s Free while tickets last…
The festival, now in its eleventh year, will see events taking place around the market town of Woodbridge from Wednesday 30 August until Sunday 3 September, with a London Launch Party on Saturday 26 August (Notting Hill Carnival Weekend).
Saturday in the park will debut a new wellness area, as well as the traditional large Eco-Area, Kids Zone, Literary Zone and Art Areas.
This year the Art area Make & Do sessions feature a ‘Screen-print your own festival t-shirt’ session – bring your own t-shirt or buy one to print on on the day. Festival goers can also try cyanotype printing, paper construction, screen printing, badge making, sound play and photography walkabouts. The Make & Do sessions will be running through the afternoon, all ages welcome, sessions are drop-in and everyone is welcome to join in. Art practitioners include SnapSkool, Jo Chapman, Charly Jolly, Alex Menhams and the festival’s Arts Co-ordinator, Alice Stallard.
Take time out in the Art, Eco, Family area with fun improvisation interactions, dancing, heart murals and more, plus story telling in the family Read and Chill tent, kindly supported by Woodbridge Library. Stretch out with Khangaroot Yogaand use the Anchors Aweigh! interactive trail map to explore the festival and discover the twelve anchors hidden about the site. All ages welcome, sessions are drop-in and everyone is welcome to join in.
In the Wellness Area there will be massages available throughout the afternoon with Indian head massage with Carmen Zahra (WNHC), back and shoulder massage Lorna Bailey (WNHC), plus wellbeing and counselling questions answered. Talks include Mindfulness meditation (Julia McKay), Nutrition (Ginny Hendry WNHC), Herbal medicine (Ed Berger Melton), Qi gong (with the festival’s Wellness Area guru Steve Kippax WHNC), Yoga, with Jane Daly and Abi from heseyayoga, Happy hips, Fabulous feet, Slinky shoulders, and Breath work. There will be complimentary Chinese herbal tea to taste, and plants from Katies garden for sale.
Woodbridge Festival has been able to expand to two days after being awarded new funding by East Suffolk Council, as part of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund initiative.
Woodbridge Festival of Art and Music 2023 Highlights.
– National and local acts celebrate Windrush 75 at events in Suffolk and London from June – August
– Acts playing include Aswad, Jazzie B, A Man Called Adam, Ben Osborne, Caswell, Chris Coco, Jimi K-Tel (Sancho Panza), Nathan X , Ipswich Sound systems Freedom, Boppa Ranking, RastaYard, Turbo and more.
– Anchors Aweigh – the arts trail involving 12 Anchors made by 12 Community Groups. A project created by artist Alice Stallard, the community groups who decorated an anchor include Dora Brown, Jetty Lane, Just42, Aspire Black Suffolk, Suffolk ArtLink, Woodbridge Art Club, Woodbridge Memory Café, Woodbridge Prep School, Woodbridge Primary School, Woodbridge Festival and 5th Woodbridge Sea Scout Squirrels.
– Projections on historic Tide Mill and Windrush Art Trail Exhibtion feature the ‘lost’ 1962 Windrush photographs by Howard Grey and contempoary ‘Black Suffolk’ portraits by John Ferguson, across nine venues.
– Caribbean Street Feast By The River
– Reggatta Carnival By the River
– Free Audio Visual and Art workshops throughout summer
– Saturday 26 August Pre Carnival Celebration of sound system culture and London Launch party celebrating 40 years since Aswad recorded Live and Direct at Notting Hill Carnival, in London using unique state of the art 3D L Acoustics sound system at EartH in Hackney.
