¡VAMOS! Festival 2014 Programme announced!

¡VAMOS! Festival returns between Friday 6 and Sunday 22 June 2014 with events celebrating Spanish and Portuguese speaking cultures across North East England.  ¡VAMOS! Festival 2014 brings two weeks, and three vibrant weekends of events including; a lively and colourful Mardi Gras performance; international act Jaleo Flamenco from Seville; an exclusive immersive Almodovar film screening; the popular outdoor family picnic with a Portuguese and Brazilian Festa de Juninas theme; a major literary conference with internationally renowned speakers held at Newcastle University; the return of the popular Mexican wrestling; and an exclusive UK appearance by Mexican Dj Toy Selector as well as pop-up restaurants, music, talks and cutting edge visual art from international artists and a specially commissioned artist designed ¡VAMOS! Pavilion hosting festival events. The vibrantly designed ¡VAMOS! Pavilion designed by Brazilian artist and graphic designer Flavio Morais has been especially commissioned for the festival, funded by Arts Council England. The ¡VAMOS! Pavillion will appear at key locations during the festival providing a lively hub for ¡VAMOS! Festival activities. Launching ¡VAMOS! Festival on Saturday 7 June from 11am a Mardi Gras parade along Northumberland street will bring together young people from eight schools across Newcastle from the Ouseburn Hub partnership, hundreds of lively musicians and costumed dancers from the North East and across the UK. The colourful procession from Brunswick Church and along Northumberland Street will culminate in a performance on the lawn outside Northern Stage, on the Newcastle University Campus. It will launch an afternoon of free activities between noon and 5pm with a fiesta of live music from authentic Cuban Son band Son Yambu; Hannabiell and Midnight Blue; tango group Duo Norteño plus DJs, finger licking food and hip shaking tango workshops and demonstrations. The ¡VAMOS! Pavilion will make its first public appearance as part of the afternoon’s activities. Visitors can also pose as Latin inspired characters to create their very own #locohero souvenir photographs as the popular photography Moon Booth takes on a special ¡VAMOS! theme, appearing at this afternoon and weekend events throughout the Festival. On Saturday 7 June, the first Saturday of the opening weekend, international dance act Jaleo, a fantastic flamenco act from Seville will perform a visually and acoustically spellbinding show at the Mill Volvo Theatre from 8pm. Tickets are £7 in advance. A brand new commission by avaf (assume vivid astro focus), an artist duo made up of Rio de Janeiro born Eli Sudbrack and Parisian Christophe Hamaide-Pierson, has been commissioned for mima, in Middlesbrough, by ¡VAMOS! Festival with support from Arts Council England. Their work often fuses drawing, sculpture, video and performance into multi-sensorial installations referencing gender, politics and cultural codes. This new piece created especially for mima will be on display from the eve of the Festival on Thursday 5 June until Sunday 22 June. Cubano at Newcastle College is a pop-up restaurant with Cuban themed food at Newcastle College’s Lifestyle Academy on Tuesday 10th June from 7pm-11pm. Working with budding chefs from the college’s Chefs’ Academy. ¡VAMOS! presents an unforgettable communal dining experience with live Cuban music in one of the region’s most innovative culinary havens with spectacular views over the city. Other food events during ¡VAMOS! Festival include Pop-up Dining at the Clocktower Café, Hoults Yard at 7pm on Fridays 6, 13 and 20 June. A partnership between ¡VAMOS! and McKennas the Pop-up restaurant will showcase the best in hearty, flavourful and endlessly inventive Latin American food including staples such as arepa (thick corn bread patties typical of Colombia and Venezeula) and delectable bites like the tlacoyos (Mexican oval shaped fried or toasted cake which famously tempted the conquistadors!). Advanced booking required. ¡VAMOS! Secret Paladares return with professional chef Gareth Kyle cooking up an Argentinian themed meal in a secret home location, accompanied by live music from Tango Zapatito at 8pm on Tuesday 17 June. Very limited places. The middle weekend of ¡VAMOS! Festival, from Friday 13 to Sunday 15 June focuses on activities in the Summerhill Bowling Club. An immersive film screening of the acclaimed Almodovar film Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down accompanied by live music, tapas and drag queens is presented by Screenage Kicks and ¡VAMOS! at 8pm on Friday 13 June. The popular and free ¡VAMOS! Family Picnic returns to Summerhill Bowling Club lawn on Saturday 14 June between 2pm and 8pm, with a Brazilian Festas Juninas theme. These traditional midsummer festival held in Portugal and later introduced to Brazil celebrate rural life and a celebrated with typical traditional costumes, food and dancing. ¡VAMOS! are recreating this colourful, lively extravaganza with Brazilian folk dance, Djs, activities for children and music that includes the amazing Afro-Brazilian 7 piece band Da Lata, who have just won Best Brazilian Act of 2013 in the UK Lukas Awards and Dj Patrick Forge. The Radio Revellers take over the club house at Summerhill from 7pm on the evening of Sunday 15 June, to reprise The Blade of Xorro, a live slapstick radio performance of a tale set in the badlands of El Meccico! The final weekend of ¡VAMOS! Festival includes a two day major literary conference Fiction, non-fiction and new journalism: The arts of storytelling in the Spanish and Portuguese speaking worlds on Friday 20 June and Saturday 21 June held at the Great North Museum: Hancock, Newcastle University. International speakers include; writer, journalist and radio producer Daniel Alarcón, born in Peru and currently based in San Francisco, author of War by Candlelight, Lost City Radio and At Night We Walk in Circles and co-founder and executive director of Spanish language storytelling podcast Radio Ambulante; Javier de Isusi, Basque author of graphic novels including Los Viajes de Juan Sin Tierra; and journalist, poet and performer Gabriela Wiener, chief editor of Marie Claire in Spain. Mexico’s favourite spectator sport, Mexican Wrestling returns to wrap up the final Saturday, 21 June with two shows at the Toffee Factory at 12pm (family show) and 3pm (over 16s only). Audiences can enjoy the superhero versus villain action, high-flying, acrobatic show along with piñata smashing and some seriously tasty street food. The evening of Saturday 21 June finishes with one of Mexico’s iconic fusion Djs, DJ Toy Selectah (Mad Decent records) coming direct from Mexico for an exclusive UK appearance, to play at the after party at the Cycle Hub from 8pm to midnight, joined by the Funky Butt Djs playing Latin Jazz, the best in vintage rhythm and blues, bluebeat, ska, soul and funk, along with Latin food stalls. The film programme throughout the festival includes a screening of Oscar nominated Cuban film Strawberries and Chocolate at 7.30pm on Thursday 5th June, 7.30 at the Side Cinema followed by live music from Havana Club 5.  Maestra, a documentary about women who taught on the Cuban Literacy Campaign will be screened at the Side Cinema at 7pm on Monday 9 June. Two free films screenings take place in the Daysh Building at Newcastle University thanks to support by The Embassy of Spain. Wrinkles, an endearing and humorous animated film portrays the adventures of two elderly friends, Emilio and Miguel who live in a care home, will screen at 5pm on Monday 16 June; and El Secreto de Sus Ojos winner of the Oscar and Goya award for best foreign film in 2009, at 5pm on Wednesday 18 June. Music events during the festival include two In Harmony lunchtime concerts at Sunday 15 and Sunday 22 June at 1.30pm by prestigious youth orchestra Young Sinfonia, a regional project run by Sage Gateshead based on the principles of Venezuela’s inspirational El Sistema musical teaching philosophy. Newcastle University celebrates 50 years of Portuguese teaching, with a Celebrating Portuguese afternoon at Bar Loco From 2pm on Sunday 15 June, with traditional Portuguese food, a performance of an adaptation José Saramago’s Blindness and music by Portuguese duo Tuga Tribe. In World Guitar Night (La Noche de las Guitarras del Mundo) local talented musicians celebrate the music of Paco de Lucía: Spanish flamenco guitarist, composer and producer, at 8pm on Wednesday 18June at Bar Loco.  ¡VAMOS! Festival regulars, Burundanga who combine a variety of Rhythm and Roots from Latin America with a big dose of contemporary grooves and rhythms launch their new album at Hoochie Coochies at 8pm on Friday 20 June. As a partner of ¡VAMOS! Festival, Newcastle University hosts a series of talks; In Impacts of Climate Change on International Rivers in Portugal and Spain Selma De Britto Guerreiro will discuss her research using the latest climate projections and river models to learn how future rain, drought and water flows may look like, between 12.30pm and 1.30pm on Tuesday 10 June; In Mining and Rural Communities in Peru Jaime Amezaga and Adam Jarvis from Newcastle University and a representative of CAFOD will discuss the impact of large scale minining on communities in Peru on Wednesday 11 June between 5pm and 6pm; In Conversation with Oscar Ugarteche, between 12noon and 1.30pm on Tuesday 17 June, topics will include the current economic crisis and its impact in Latin America, the Nicaraguan revolution of 1979, the gay rights movement in Latin America and the anti-corruption struggle, with this academic and activist who has lived and worked across Latin America and is currently the Santander Visiting Fellow at the School of Modern Languages at Newcastle University. As part of ¡VAMOS! an exhibition of rare original prints by world-renowned Spanish Catalan painter Joan Miro will be on display at the Balman Gallery Corbridge from Saturday 26 April to Saturday 21 June. As always ¡VAMOS! Festival rounds up with a free Closing Beach Party at Crusoes, Longsands Beach, Tynemouth, from 7pm on Sunday 22nd June, with music and dancing as the sun goes down. ¡VAMOS! Festival is an annual festival and 2014 marks its 9th edition.  For more information and links to buy tickets see www.vamosfestival.com. For up to date news sign up for the e-bulletin via the website, follow @VAMOS_Festival on Twitter, like the ¡VAMOS! Festival page on facebook, (www.facebook.com/VAMOSFestival) and follow VAMOSFestival on Pinterest and Instagram.