International arts festival York Mediale set to return to city

The second biennial York Mediale may have a total budget of £600,000 after a recent award of £283,000 from Arts Council England, with another £65,000 being committed to it by Make It York.

Next year’s event will be packed into four days, from October 21 to October 25, rather than spread over 10 days, as happened last year.

Creative director Tom Higham said he had learnt a lot from the first York Mediale, and one piece of feedback from visitors was that key events were too far spread across 10 days, and so the 2020 festival would have a similar amount of content packed into a long weekend.

“There will be opportunities to experience ground-breaking media arts from the moment you open your eyes in the morning to when you crash into bed after another amazing gig in the early hours of the following day,” he said.

“We’re working hard to build an exciting, engaging and fun programme. This time, the festival will have a direct focus on York citizens.

“We will be involving them even more in the development of commissions and projects; creating world premieres of new artwork made in, by, and with, York.

“The festival continues to support local artists in interim years; having recently commissioned a series of arts projects for the Castle Gateway area of the city, which will be realised over the coming months, featuring artists from the 2018 Festival, including Hannah Bruce & Co. and Common Ground Theatre, who will create an audio experience for one of the city’s most fascinating sites.”

He added that headline events for York Mediale 2020 were set to be announced in the spring, with the full programme to be released in early summer.

Tonya Nelson, Director of Arts, Technology and Innovation at Arts Council England, said it was hoped its investment in the Mediale would help it to establish itself as an event of international standing, revitalising the national art form and benefitting audiences of all kinds in York, and further afield.