From 5th to 13th December , Devonshire Square hosted the 6th Edition of its very own “Art for Love” Winter Festival, a 2-week programme of FREE attendance world-class artistic performances, organised and curated by the Devonshire Square Events Team with the aim of raising awareness on social causes through the power of the arts.
The programme included performances by international musicians who presented repertoires ranging from classical to swing, and dance shows, both classical ballet and contemporary, executed by some of the finest professional dancers in UK.
The festival’s opening day celebrated the magical atmosphere of the festive season with a visually delighting showcase of performances and artworks dedicated to the fantasy world of fairy tales and The Golden Age of Children’s Literature.
The collection of fairy tales ““The Blue fairy Book”, by Scottish novelist and poet Andrew Lang, was the leitmotif of all performances and visual artworks that were presented during the Festival’s inaugural event.
To celebrate the inspirational power of the universal literary genre of the fairy tale on performing and visual arts, as well as on creative making, dancers and visual artists had been invited by the Devonshire Square’s Events Team to imaginatively create unique choreographies, illustrations and artworks dedicated to the fantasy world of the folk and fairies that populate Lang’s narrative work.
Royal Opera Ballet trained dancers “Crystalline” presented a mesmerizing choreography executed to music from Cinderella, while Scottish sugar artist Jacqui Kelly – multi gold medal winning and Best in Show at Cake International 2014 London – showcased her extraordinary talent with a unique sugar artwork, “Dreamy Tales of Sugar”, exclusively created for the Festival, inspired by Lang’s book.
An original collection of illustrations by international children illustrator Glen Holman, inspired by a selection of tales from the Lang’s fairy tales’ collection, was also on display.
On the Festival’s opening day, from 12 noon to 1pm, attendees were also treated to a complimentary tasting experience of Scottish festive sweets created for the occasion by the Executive Chefs of Devonshire Square’s iconic Scottish restaurant Mac and Wild.
Devonshire Square’s community fundraised in aid of The Connection homeless charity during the whole duration of the Festival and the Devonshire Square’s iconic Giving Tree was also on display in the Western Courtyard to encourage donations.
During the Festival, the Devonshire Square’s Western Courtyard hosted an overall number of 50 talented artists and our programme – covered by various blogs and websites – was included in the Christmas edition of the popular magazine This is London which only promotes the best events available in London and features programmes with a high entertaining or artistic value.