Cartoon Festival celebrates ten years with return to Darwin Centre
The Festival climaxes this weekend, April 20 and 21, when the town will be alive with cartoons and over 40 top cartoonists will be there to draw for the public with the Square, the Market Hall and Theatre Severn the focal points along with the Darwin Centre.
Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival has returned to the town’s main shopping centre - and in a big way.
The festival’s return to the busy Darwin Centre will see cartoons, part of the Festival’s S-mile Trail, popping up in up to a dozen of the centre shops.
“We’ve got up to a dozen shops involved and we’ve put up some of our humourals – humorous murals – in some of the units.”
Bill McCabe added: “The festival has several elements and it’s an opportunity for visitors and shoppers to stroll round town and view cartoons in some unusual places.
“We had lots of people calling in and families taking part in the activities and we’ve had a great response from the artists as well.“Shrewsbury and Shropshire has a real community of artists and they have been given the opportunity to thrive and survive by the old Borough Council and that’s created a network of artists locally.”
Now in its tenth year, the theme for 2013 is ‘Time’ and an exhibition, entitled, ‘It’s About Time’ is at the upper floor gallery in Shrewsbury Market Hall until May 6 before it tours three other Shropshire galleries during the summer.
As well as exhibitions there are workshops and cartoon clinics ranging from simple have-a-go drop in sessions to more detailed sessions over two days.
Kevin Lockwood, Manager of the Darwin, Pride Hill and Riverside Centres, said: “We are delighted to have the Cartoon Festival back in the shopping centres – it’s a brilliant event which can’t help but bring a smile to people’s faces.
“We’ve also been very pleased with the response to the holiday activities we’ve organised here and we want to make that a regular feature and we’re already looking at providing something at half term and for the summer.”
Details about the festival are on the website at www.shrewsburycartoonfestival.com and also at www.shrewsbury-shopping.co.uk
-- Yoland Brown Brownhill House B&B, Ruyton XI Towns, nr. Shrewsbury SY4 1LR ShACC - Shropshire Alternative Car Club www.eleventowns.co.uk www.eleventowns.com www.ShACC-uk.org Tel: 01939 261 121 Fax: 01939 260626
