Saturday, May 31, 2014

Top chart acts heading for Middlehaven as new music festival announced


Stage will be erected near Middlesbrough College, looking out at Temenos, the Riverside Stadium and Middlehaven Dock




Top chart acts will rock around the dock when a major music festival comes to Middlesbrough, it was anounced today.


The open-air event, which will see national chart-topping acts play alongside exciting emerging North-east talent, will take place in Middlesbrough’s flagship regeneration area, Middlehaven, on August 23.


Spearheaded by care specialists Keiro, which has experience of running accessible music festivals, the Middlehaven Music Festival is supported by neuro, stroke and spinal injury rehabilitation centre The Gateway, Middlesbrough College, the Thirteen Group, Middlesbrough Council and Middlesbrough Football Club.


The first of its kind for Teesside, organisers say the festival is set to create a “fully accessible cultural event aimed at attracting visitors of all ages and abilities from across the region.”


A stage will be erected on a grassy area near Middlesbrough College, looking out at Temenos, the Riverside Stadium and Middlehaven Dock.


Business relationship director at Keiro, Alistair McDonald, said the headline act had been Brit-nominated, while others were also well-known. The full line-up will be anounced on June 6.


He said: “We are absolutely thrilled to be announcing such an exciting event and we can’t wait to share the line-up.


“Our aim is to use the most talented musicians that the country and the region has to offer to bring people to Middlehaven. The event will see the biggest range of current and emerging talent play alongside some of the UK’s most popular chart acts on two stages in what promises to be the music event of the summer.”


The Middlehaven Music Festival will also be host to a vast number of exhibitors along with children’s fairground rides, and is supported by radio station TFM.


Chris Smith, director of business development at Thirteen, said: “It is events like these that bring partners, tenants, students and customers together with the wider community and it’s great to see so many partners working together to make it happen and put Middlehaven even more firmly on the map.


“Middlehaven is fast becoming an integral and dynamic part of Middlesbrough’s town centre which has really started to thrive. The area has attracted millions of pounds worth of funding with more expected over the next few years and the Middlehaven Music Festival has the potential to give a significant boost to help promote what it has on offer for people – a really vibrant place to live, work or study.”


Middlehaven is currently home to world class residential, office, education, leisure and cultural developments including The Riverside Stadium, The Gateway, Anish Kapoor’s public art installation Temenos, the North East’s largest social housing organisation Thirteen Group, Brasserie Hudson Quay and Middlesbrough College.


Mr McDonald added: “The idea of doing something not only to raise awareness for Middlehaven but to encourage organisations and the community to come together to support this thriving area has been a pipedream for some time now so we are delighted to be able to provide such an exciting event for everyone.


“We hope to put on an incredible event for Middlehaven which, with local support, could really put us on the map and grow to be an annual event locally and in the festival calendar.”


Keiro currently holds a Silver accreditation by national charity Attitude is Everything for its annual Chase Park Festival in Gateshead aimed at breaking down cultural barriers often faced with people with disabilities, which has successfully run for the past four years.


Visit http://ift.tt/1wGJUvD or @Middlehavenfest on Twitter.



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