Summer festival to celebrate shoe industry
A summer festival will see Northampton Borough Council putting its best foot forward as it hosts a programme of events celebrating the shoe industry.
From June to September the Shoe Town Festival will be showcasing all things good about Northampton – yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Highlights include exhibitions, public art, opera, theatre, music, tours, talks and craft workshops for all ages.
David Kennedy, borough council chief executive, said: "The industrial heritage of any community is important to its future. In Northampton the shoe industry has changed over the years and is still a vital local asset. We are also lucky to have the largest collection of shoes in the world.
"We are putting Northampton on the right foot for the future."
The opening exhibition will be hosted at Northampton Museum and Art Gallery in Guildhall Road from June 27. Entitled, Skin, it will explore unusual types of leather, fetishism and the anti-leather argument.
Meanwhile the Shoe of Shoes sculpture will be a six foot structure in the Market Square which anyone can place old shoes inside as a temporary art installation.
There will also be the opportunity to tour Church's shoe factory and Northampton's vast shoe store with thousands of historic items. Activities for youngsters include leather related craft workshops in Abington Park and spray painting trainers with customised designs.
There will also be a Shoe Town film festival at Lings Forum screening rarely viewed old footage of Northampton plus shoe-themed films Tommy, Kinky Boots and Red Shoes.
Councillor Tony Woods (Lib Dem, St Davids), leader of the borough council said the aim of the festival was to entertain and inform.
He added: "We mustn't forget how important the leather and shoe industry still is for Northampton. It is at the very cutting edge and of the highest quality."
The Northampton Museum and Art Gallery is currently bidding for national status for its shoe collection and hopes to obtain it within a year. This would give it a national profile and potentially increase the number of visitors.
The festival is being supported by Nationwide, Grosvenor Centre, Friends of Northampton Museum and Art Gallery and the Designation Challenge Fund. For full details of the programme of exhibitions and events visit www.northampton.gov.uk/museums
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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