People Express offers arts activities and showcases cultural opportunities at several festivals throughout the year.

The Festival of Transport, Swadlincote Town Centre.                               A day dedicated to celebrating transport. The town centre is filled with trucks, bikes and vintage cars. Lots of fun for all the family!

Festival of Leisure, Maurice Lea Memorial Park, Church Gresley.                                                             The districts annual event which attracts over 5000 people. The People Express marquee invites festival goers the opportunity to take part in artist led drop-in arts activities.

OVERSEAL GALA is ran by a volunteer committee of residents from the rural village. In 2022 People Express supported the group to successfully apply for funding from The National Lottery Community Fund for creative activities in the lead up to and at the Gala. On the day of the Gala we offered families the opportunity to have a go at Djembe drumming with Zimbabwean drummers Tafi and Limz, ceramic pendant painting and clay making with artist Julia Webster and making a willow fish with Chaz Friend from Wayside Willow. In the month leading up to the Gala, residents of the village worked with writer and performer Thom Seddon to create a book of poems and stories about the village.

Hatton Carnival is an annual event ran by a voluntary group of residents of the rural village. People Express attended the 2022 event, offering carnival-goers an opportunity to have a go at weaving their own willow fish. The event also provided us with an opportunity to consult with local residents about plans for the creation of a peace garden in the village.

TIMBER is a forest festival set in the heart of the National Forest which attracts national audiences. In 2019 People Express and Derbyshire LGBT+  commissioned writer and story teller Thom Seddon to work with young and older members of the LGBT+ communities, to create brand new fairy tales inspired by nature, woodlands and forests. Thom, who is based in Nottingham, has worked across the UK as a performer, drag queen and spoken word performer.The stories can be read in an digital anthology here.

In South Derbyshire, we hosted a series of writing workshops at People Express for a group of young people from the local LGBT+ community to create the fairytales.

Across Derbyshire, Thom worked with the Derby Young Person’s group and Golden Rainbows groups based across the county in Derby, Belper and Chesterfield.

The stories were performed around the campfire at Timber Festival.