Hat Fair Partners With Alresford Music Festival To Support Top Hat Competition

Hat Fair - part of Live Theatre Winchester Trust - is delighted to announce it has partnered with Alresford Music Festival (AMF) to support the Top Hat Outdoor Arts competition in 2019.

Hat Fair and Alresford Music Festival are key events in the region's cultural calendar with a community focus at their core. As partners, the two organisations will support the next wave of emerging artists making work in Winchester, through the Top Hat initiative.

Sponsored by the University of Winchester, Top Hat was launched in 2018. Made to discover, engage and nurture new talent, the scheme is aimed at students or recent graduates of the university. All artists entering the competition have the opportunity to perform their work at Hat Fair, before the audience votes for a winner. The winning artist will then receive mentoring from the festival's Director Andrew Loretto, aiding them in fully developing a finished work to be performed at the festival in the following year.

As a partner, AMF will provide a platform at the festival in June 2019 for Top Hat participants to perform their work, before presenting to win mentoring at Hat Fair in July. This extended platform gives the emerging artists an opportunity to gain experience performing in different spaces, test new crowds, and build their confidence in presenting a piece of work outdoors.

Alresford Music Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2019. Since its inception the festival, which operates as a registered charity, has donated more than £40,000 to local, national and international charities. A truly independent and bespoke music event, AMF has built a popular reputation for programming must-see emerging musicians from the local area and across the country.

"The AMF Team is delighted to be working with the Hat Fair this year. Our partnership with their Top Hat programme will enable us to offer young emerging artists the opportunity to perform in front of our audience at our 10th anniversary festival, before going on to wow audiences at the Hat Far in July." - Tim Miller, Alresford Music Festival Co-Founder & Director

In 2019 Hat Fair celebrates 45 years as the UK's longest continually-running Outdoor Arts festival. In 2018 the three-day event recorded more than 80,000 people watching performances during the weekend, marking it as one of the country's most exciting free festivals. The team behind the festival are delighted to partner with Alresford Music Festival to continue to support young people with new and exciting ideas.

"Hat Fair is proud to support local talent through the Top Hat competition - the first winner of which was Martin Jakeman at Hat Fair 2018.Through our new partnership with Alresford Music Festival we can extend opportunities to local emerging talent from University of Winchester to develop and perform their work." - Andrew Loretto, Hat Fair Director

Alresford Music Festival returns Saturday 8th June 2019. Hat Fair returns Friday 5th July.

To find out more visit www.hatfair.co.uk / www.alresfordmusicfestival.com.

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