Our brilliant Rochdale Ambassadors and Champions worked with the Royal Exchange Theatre’s Local Exchange to programme the festival, packing it full of brilliant exciting new voices and established names!
Our Ambassadors and Champions are members of the local community who work with the Royal Exchange Theatre to celebrate and build arts and culture for, by and in Rochdale! Here’s the story of the FestiDale in their words.
“The FestiDale has opened my eyes to how creative and joyful the people who live here are. I feel proud of where I’m from for maybe the first time ever.” – Audience Member
Why We Put on the Festival:
Ann S (Rochdale Ambassador): Rochdale has received a lot of bad press in recent years, so The FestiDale offered an opportunity to bring not only drama, entertainment and fun to the area, but also the chance to engender a sense of pride in the borough and its people. And there is so much to celebrate in the Rochdale Borough, with its history, architecture and a strong sense of humanity and compassion.
We brought all this and more to conversations with local poet, Seamus Kelly, who then wrote an excellent poem ‘Welcome to Rochdale’ celebrating the borough. We turned the poem into a film which was projected on to the Den, opening The FestiDale. You can watch the film here!
Daisy (Rochdale Ambassador): The reason I got involved in The FestiDale was that I really believe in the power of the arts to help us cope with our own struggles in life. It is like a vehicle that takes us to a place of reflection and sometime solace.
Having that in mind, the idea of being part of The FestiDale meant that I would be, somehow, joining this community of likeminded people and help to spread some happiness among our residents in Rochdale. Rochdale is a place I call “my tribe”, it is a global mosaic of cultures and languages. I love it here!
