'Live@Chapel' EAST LEEDS HOSTS 1st LIVE BROADCAST

Contact: katy@headstogether.org

East Leeds will be the the first to host a seven day festival of words and music, broadcast live from 13th to 19th June, on www.elfm.co.uk. Live@Chapel is an entirely live broadcast literature and music festival; the first we know about, and certainly the first in this region.

Through local community radio station ELFM, this broadcast festival promises to deliver a feast of words and music aimed at audiences of all ages. Itʼs radio, but so much more…

Opening the festival, national literary treasure Ian McMillan and his poet son Andrew swap poetry and wisdom on the theme of families. Following his claim on Desert Island Discs that he has never worked with his son, ELFM challenged Ian McMillan to devise a piece with his son especially for the Live@Chapel festival. Ian and Andrew will be performing on Monday 13th June from 7.30 – 9.00pm.

Live@Chapel starts with a 5 day words and literature festival, broadcast live from the atmospheric Seacroft Chapel. Rounding off with an all-night Readathon; twelve readers, with coffee and cake, reciting stories from TRUE TALES OF AMERICAN LIFE,Live@Chapel then moves seamlessly into a 24 hour Musicathon; 300 musicians playing live from 3pm Saturday to 3pm Sunday 19th June!

Each afternoon the festival will broadcast a programme showcasing the work of East Leeds Primary and High Schools. Four writers have been working with a total of nine schools in the area. Matthew Clegg,for instance, now of Sheffield, was educated at Austhorpe Primary and returns to lead workshops with pupils there on the theme of Place. Each writer has also been asked, as part of their residency funded by ArtForms, Education Leeds, to produce a piece of original writing for the festival. Matthew is already writing a memoir about Crossgates Cricket Club where his father was a leading light.

Broadcasting each day from 1pm, the festival features a late show, ʻThe Pulpitʼ where local playwrights and poets get to air their quirky tailor-made dramas written especially for the festival.

Tune in to www.elfm.co.uk each day to hear the very best of poetry, drama, story-telling and interviews. And on Saturday, stock up with pizza and plenty of coffee, and settle down to 24 hours of fantastic live music broadcasting directly to your living room.

There are still some tickets left for local residents and invited guests to be part of the live audience at the Chapel. If you would like to be in the audience, please go to www.elfm.co.uk/chapel and register for a ticket.

Time: MON 13th – SUN 19th JUNE