By Tevin Campbell   -   Photos by Loan Nguyen

ArtsFest returned to the city of Birmingham during 10-12th September 2010 and it was bigger and better than ever before, filled with every type of arts imaginable from drama to dance to live music. No matter the age there was something for everyone to get stuck in and entertained by.

ArtsFest takes place annually in Birmingham and is completely free to attend. It is Birmingham’s biggest cultural festival and the largest free arts festival in the UK, celebrating the creative talent existing in the West Midlands.

Two stages were set up, one at Chamberlain Square and another at centenary square that played constant music throughout all three days for everyone’s entertainment. The stages and practically all of town were filled with music by opera singers, youth church choirs, reggae, rock and many more types of music, appealing to everyone’s taste. These music performances included many artist such as ‘The Dhol Crew’ who played bhangra in chamberlain square, ‘The Birmingham Opera Company’ performing opera pieces with intelligent twists along with many other performances held not only on stage but in pubs as well, again appealing to all ages.

[ Live music at Chamberlain Square ]

Drama and dance were also littered all over town adding to the entertainment and exciting atmosphere which included ‘The Crescent Youth Theatre’ who performed various pieces all over town such as the fusion of short plays in the ‘Old Joint Stock Theatre’ and City Centre gardens along with their mime routine in chamberlain square, all of which I found thoroughly entertaining. Furthermore at the City Centre Gardens there was a drama production called ‘The Secret Gardens’ which was very creative and next to that was archery, how fun is that!

For dance performances there was a dance stand at chamberlain square that hosted dancing from bhangra to salsa to hip-hop, which all encouraged the audience to get involved. There were also dancing performances on stage from many youth dancing from places such as dance exchange. There was also a marquee that held dance performances such as tap dancing along with kendo and other sword type performances.

[ Arts near the town hall ]

The highlight of Arts fest for me was  Kerrang Fest, where I spent almost my entire Sunday enjoying all the bands that were featured, such as The Twang, Francesqua, Elliot Minor and (my personal favourite of the night) Young Guns. The music and atmosphere at Kfest was amazing and I enjoyed every moment of it, so did all my friends. Plus as a bonus, I got my picture taken by Kerrang!

I’m already looking forward to ArtsFest next year, and if you live in the West Midlands I suggest you get yourself down there to enjoy all the arts you can imagine.

[ KerrangFest, and Tevin Campbell with friends ]