Blaze is back with an explosive 4-day festival, taking over Preston once again, featuring:

Blaze Lounge – Offering passionate young songwriters and musicians a unique space to collaborate and perform

Level Up – Opportunities, master classes and advice to inspire dynamic young people breaking into the creative industries

Portable Projection – Don’t go to the cinema, let the cinema come to you!

Wednesday 30th October

Level Up: Visual Arts Day

• 12.30pm – 2pm Festival Launch Party – invite only
• 1pm Talkeoke
• 2.30pm Live Art Demos

Portable Projection

Korova Art Café

Presenting the silent short film: “A day at the market”, directed by Paddy Alcock, followed by Michael Hazanavicius’ 2011, silent film: “The Artist”.

• 8pm – 11pm Film showings
• Tickets £2 on the door

Thursday 31st October

Level Up: Film and Photography Day

Blaze Festival Hub

• 12.30pm A sense of place – talk by Shona Thompson
• 1.00pm Arts Issue Discussion “Should you have to work for free to get into the creative sector?” by Jakub Jezierski
• 1.30pm Talkeoke
• 2.00pm Smartphone Photography and Social Media Workshop with Anthony Price and Shona Thompson
• 3.30pm Portable Projection present three short films: “Preston Motion Picture Project” created by Mathew Stanton, “A day at the market” by Paddy Alcock and finally, “The Empath” by Simon Jeffery.

Portable Projection

Blaze Festival Hub

Portable Projection Presents: “The Conjuring”, directed by James Wan, Certificate 15.

• 7pm – 10pm Film showing
• £2 on the door

Friday 1st November

Level Up: Writing and Publishing Day

Blaze Festival Hub

• 12.30 Poetry session with Naomi Kruger
• 1.30 Critical review writing workshop with Natasha Carter
• 2.30 Creative writing workshop with Victoria
• 3.30 Homeless Project Monologue
• 4pm – 5pm Reading group with Bushra

Portable Projection

The Harris Museum and Library

Presenting the sci-fi short film: “Eluding Dystopia” directed by Lee Anthony Reily, followed by: “The Fifth Element” by Luc Besson.

• 7pm – 10pm Film showings
• £2 on the door

Saturday 2nd November

Level Up: Performing Arts Day

Blaze Festival Hub

• 12.15pm Talk about becoming a performer and setting up an independent theatre from Make it Public Productions
• 12.45pm Talk from Pete Compston – be:spoke, innovative spoken word event and somewhereto_  project, helping people to find free space to express themselves.
• 1.10pm Drama Games Workshop by Make it Public Productions
• 1.40pm Spoken Word performance by Phil Evans
• 2.20pm Working on the Character workshop by Make it Public Productions
• 2.50pm Performance- JUST MIME by Make it Public Productions

Blaze Lounge workshop and performance

Blaze Festival Hub

• 4pm Blaze Lounge Songwriting Workshop with More Music
• 5pm – 9pm Performances from Jay Stansfield, 4th Time Lucky and more
• £2 on the door for the evening event.
• Workshop is free and workshop participants will gain free entry to the evening performance event.

Venue Information

The Blaze Festival Hub will be at 50/52 Lancaster Road, Preston, PR1 1DD.  The Hub will be open 12 – 5.30pm throughout the four days of the Festival. (Wednesday 12 – 2pm for our Festival Launch is invite only)

Other Blaze Festival venues:

Korova Art Café 15-16 St Wilfrid Street, Preston, PR1 2UR

Harris Museum and Library, Market Square, Preston, PR1 2PP

Ticket info

All daytime events are free.  Evening events are £2 on the door, or buy a Festival Wristband for £5 to get you into all 4 evenings.

Festival Wristbands can be purchased at the Festival Hub from 11am on Wednesday 30th October onwards, or at Blaze Festival events at other venues during the festival. 

#BlazeFest