The Here is Hope festival is underway in Homestead Park, Clifton, until 8pm today (Saturday, July 5) and returns from 10am to 6pm tomorrow.
It aims to inspire people to think ahead to the future and the role they will play in it.
The free family-friendly festival has been organised by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which owns and manages the park, and Wild Rumpus, a not-for-profit arts organisation which works across the creative sector.
It has transformed Homestead Park into a festival setting with live music, food stalls and family-friendly activities.
Sophie Howard, community engagement lead for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, at the Here is Hope festival at Homestead Park in Clifton, York, on Saturday (July 5) (Image: Dylan Connell) Sophie Howard, community engagement lead for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said the festival has been held to mark the 100th anniversary of Joseph Rowntree’s death.
“We’ve never done an event of this scale before,” she said. “It’s a really big, ambitious project for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s centenary celebration year.”
And Sophie said the festival aims to continue the Rowntree’s legacy by inspiring future generations to think about the next 100 years.
“We want this to be a catalyst for a lot of action,” she said. “We want to get lots of really great community groups, artists and creators from York to come together.
“We’re hoping it’s going to be the beginning of exciting work in York.”
Sophie described the festival as a “big celebration of community and joy”. “It’s a strange time that we’re living in with an absence of hope and joy,” she said. “And it’s time that people had a nice, fun treat because everything is so expensive.”
Festival encourages people to ‘think that change is possible’
The event focuses on the message of “hope” with stalls around the festival developing this message.
“We’re trying to change the system that we’re in,” said Polly Orton from YorSpace, speaking inside the Sanctuary of the Hopeful Sun tent at the park.
Polly pointed to YorSpace’s Lowfield Green development of 19 permanently affordable homes in Acomb as an example of this.
She said people are expected to move into the homes in August.
Having conversations with people about the future brings “hope” and allows them “to think that change is possible”, she added.
Families could be seen enjoying activities in the park such as a marble run through a woodland area, puppet demonstrations and nature workshops.
They were also engaging with the festival’s central message.
Radwan Aljohani, from York, took part in an activity which encourages participants to write down what they want the future to be.
“I would like the world to be less polluted,” he said.
Her five-year-old sister, Cillien, was unsure at first. But after careful consideration, she decided: “I want everything to be blue.”
The Here is Hope Festival runs until 8pm today (Saturday, July 5) and returns from 10am to 5pm. A free shuttle bus will be running every 15 minutes from Memorial Gardens, off Leeman Road, to the site. Only accessible parking is available on site.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(471x244:473x246)/CNN-New-Years-Eve-with-Anderson-Cooper-123124-9952e5f00fc1425f87113ba2bfb97b29.jpg "Anderson Cooper Says He Once ‘Hated’ New Year’s Eve While Co-Hosting CNN Broadcast")
