Witchfest International was always going to be a strange one
this year, stepping away from the ever faithful Fairfield Halls in Croydon to a
new venue of The Brighton Centre in, you guessed it, Brighton. In a roundabout
way it was a three-day event, with an opening concert on Friday with Spriggan
Mist, Crow Dancers, and Inkubus Sukkubus and a book end on Sunday of the Doreen
Valiente Foundation Exhibition, “Where Witchcraft Lives” at Preston Manor.
Briefly speaking about Friday, the concerts were fantastic.
I have seen Spriggan Mist and Inkubus Sukkubus before, but the sound in the
main auditorium was far better than any other venues I’ve seen them play in
which allowed me to enjoy their live performances far more than I have done in
the past. Crow dancers were something else, harnessing the spirit of The Dolmen
and going further with that same energy, certainly one to watch for in the
future.
The main event it’s self was fantastic. Once again an
amazing array of talks, workshops and musical entertainment which means I was
often disappointed due to several speakers I wished to attend clashing, though
this isn’t unusual for Witchfest! The usual faces were there, Ronald Hutton,
Damh the Bard, Kate Wes, Rufus and Melissa Harrington, Barbara Meiklejohn-Free,
Flavia Peters, Kevin Groves, Pete Jennings and Raegan Shanti, along with some
new names I’d not seen before.
All the talks I went to were extremely well attended. The
“small” rooms were larger than the ones at Fairfield but there was clearly no
difficulty filling them, in all the talks I attended in those rooms people were
still sat on the floor. The only issue I feel is that more of them could do
with microphones, while I could hear where I sat I think others nearer the back
may have struggled.
The market was bustling and full of beautiful wares to tempt
the many people to part with their money. I felt it was a bit more crowded than
Fairfields, though that might have just been the sheer number of people attending.
However, due to the spread out nature of the building, you only really got a
sense of exactly how many people were attending when everyone had filed into
the auditorium for the opening blessing at the beginning.
As I left the building, after enjoying Damh the Bard and The
Dolmen (who all again very much benefited from the fantastic sound), I couldn’t
help but wonder what was next. I feel that Children of Artemis would perhaps
struggle to return to Fairfield Halls if Witchfest remains as huge a success
next year in Brighton as it was this year. With more opportunities for people
to attend the talks they wished to attend, I feel there would be arguments when
speakers who have easily filled a 400 capacity room is forced back into one
with only 100 seats.
All in all it was a fantastic weekend, there are things to
work on, but Children of Artemis are very aware of this and know it’s something
to work on for next year. It was always going to be a learning experience the
first time around, I’m sure they’ll get it perfect in 2017.
Review by Jenny Cartledge
1 comment:
The third event was the play Doreen Valiente - an English Witch which has rave reviews from many including Philip Heselton, Julie Weltch
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