KCOM has been announced as a major partner for the region’s leading arts and culture festival.
The Hull-based broadband provider is backing the Freedom Festival, Hull’s flagship cultural event, as it prepares to unleash a whole host of theatre, music, debate and spectacle across the city this month.
Among the highlights of this year’s festival, which runs from 26 August to 4 September, are a city centre street procession by the giant walking characters of French street performers Cie L’Homme Debout, the fearsome mechanical beasts of Saurus, and the internationally renowned circus skills of Backbone theatre and national freestyle unicycle champions Wire Attack, who will be putting on a jaw-dropping display in Hull’s Trinity Square.
This year the outdoor spectacles will also run alongside a digital programme of films and on-demand podcasts, debates and online talks about what artistic freedom means to us today. KCOM will have a stall on Hull Marina during the course of the main festival weekend with plenty of fun activities and competitions with top-notch prizes for youngsters to take part in.
Mikey Martins, Artist Director and CEO of the Freedom Festival Arts Trust, said: “It’s really great that we’re working closely with KCOM as a core partner of Freedom Festival again in 2022. Not just as a sponsor but as a technically innovative partner too on our digital, online and on-demand offer which will be ‘powered by KCOM’ and to be enjoyed from wherever you are.
“And that’s important, as we know that our audience comes from far and wide and we know that KCOM also reaches far and wide – so it’s a perfect match. Thanks again for the support to all the team there, it’s great to be together again.”
The Freedom Festival was established in 2007 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of William Wilberforce’s law, the Slave Trade Act 1807, to abolish the slave trade. It has since grown to be the region’s biggest public cultural event attracting more than 120,000 people to Hull to watch more than 220 international performers and companies hailing from ten countries.
Tim Shaw, KCOM’s chief executive, said: “We’re delighted to be partnering once again with the Freedom Festival to bring a world class programme of fantastic arts, superb outdoor spectacle and also some smaller more reflective shows to Hull.
“As a business we’re all about connecting people and nothing brings people together more than culture and the shared experience of being part of something amazing like the Freedom Festival.
“We can’t wait to see Hull come alive with another vibrant and exciting festival.”
To see the full programme of Freedom Festival events, please visit https://app.freedomfestival.co.uk