The UK’s biggest national cultural event returns

• GET CREATIVE FAMILY ARTS FESTIVAL EXPANDS TO RUN THROUGHOUT ENTIRE MONTH OF OCTOBER 2016
• EVENT LISTINGS NOW OPEN – MORE ORGANISATIONS WANTED!
• OPPORTUNITIES FOR FAMILIES TO WIN PRIZES
• Upload events to familyartsfestival.com

This year the Get Creative Family Arts Festival extends its reach through the whole month of October, giving arts organisations even more opportunity to take part.

Once again, the Festival will partner with the BBC Arts’ GET CREATIVE platform to produce lively content via the BBC, and will be running a national media campaign.

The googly-eye app and interactive map, popular features of each Festival, return, and this year’s event is set to be even bigger and brighter than ever before.   Over 800 organisations took part in the 2015 festival, which took place between 9 October and 1 November.  Around 500,000 family members attended one of the 4,000 festival events across the UK.

Event listings for 2016 are now open for arts organisations to register their events on www.familyartsfestival.com. The site will launch to the public on 13 June so families can start searching for events in their area by genre, age range and interest. Families will be encouraged to give feedback on the website where there are some fantastic prizes to be won. New events are uploaded daily as organisations sign up.

Organisation of any kind can take part, from museums, galleries, libraries, schools, community centres, to just about any kind of organisation imaginable, as long as their events have an arts element. A family event can be anything that appeals to an under-16 and an over-16 attending together. Events needn’t be programmed specifically for the Festival either- they can be a part of your existing programme if they have intergenerational appeal.

Highlights for 2016 include:

Dance Umbrella runs throughout October and family shows include a production of Erik Kaiel’s Tetris / O Snap / No Man is an Island which will be touring around London, as is Netherlands-based De Dansers’ family-friendly Dream City at The Unicorn Theatre.  The Secret Slowness of Movement by Laura Dannequin at David Roberts Art Gallery is an installation which will invite families to take some time out and indulge in fresh green grass, and is a free event.

‘Why the Whales Came’ is a new one-woman family show, created by the same team from Wizard Presents who brought you the acclaimed and much-loved production of ‘I Believe in Unicorns’. The adaptation of Michael Morpurgo book will premiere at Watford Palace Theatre and then be on tour throughout the UK.  Underneath a Magical Moon is a new production from tutti frutti, a re-imagining of the Peter Pan story as told by Wendy, which will tour across the UK.

Best Family Event winner Big Fish Little Fish will once again be encouraging ravers of all ages to join the party, events in Edinburgh, Bristol, Manchester and Birmingham.

The Wigmore Hall offer concerts in their Chamber Tots ‘On Safari’ series, Southbank Sinfonia will be showcasing the different instruments of the orchestra in their family concert in Cadogan Hall. 2015 Best Family Venue winner St George’s Bristol will be exploring a Halloween theme with their minibeats event ‘Petrifying Pianos’.

A full list of the 2015 Family Arts Award winners can be found here.

The Get Creative Family Arts Festival is a major event of the Family Arts Campaign, a national initiative to connect more families with high quality arts and culture. The Festival has helped contribute to an astounding 61% of arts organisations reporting an increase in work produced for families since 2012.

> Download the launch press release here

> Upload Festival event listings here