 | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject.(April 2011) |
| Stockton International Riverside Festival | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Arts festival |
| Begins | 29 July 2021 |
| Ends | 1 August 2021 |
| Location(s) | Stockton-on-Tees |
| Years active | 37 |
| Inaugurated | 1988 |
| Most recent | 2019 |
| Website | http://www.sirf.co.uk/ |
The Stockton International Riverside Festival (SIRF) is an annual outdoor arts festival in Stockton-on-Tees, England. [1] It includes British and international performers.
The first Stockton Riverside Festival was founded by Frank Wilson and the first festival took place in August 1988. [2] Now known as the Stockton International Riverside Festival (SIRF) it has grown into an internationally famous event that attracts thousands of spectators. [3] In 2015 founder, Frank Wilson, was awarded an MBE for his services to the festival arts in the North East, recognising the impact the festival had made to Stockton. [4] In 2017 SIRF celebrated its 30th anniversary. [2]
In 1991 local musicians collaborated to start the Stockton Riverside Fringe Festival as a companion event to SIRF. It grew from a small, free, one-stage, one-day fringe event that was intended to showcase local talent to become, by its tenth festival in 2010, a multi-stage, paid for event headlined by as Calvin Harris. [5] From 2011 onwards, it was produced by the Tees Music Alliance in collaboration with Stockton Borough Council and it was renamed the Stockton Weekender. It was headlined by Maxïmo Park in 2011, [6] The Pogues in 2012, [7] Primal Scream in 2013 [8] and by Public Enemy in 2014, which would be its last year. Following the festival, Tees Valley Music Alliance announced that it would no longer be organising the festival as it had failed to sell enough tickets to cover its costs and considered it to no longer be financially viable. [9] [10]
Since the mid-1990s SIRF has been regularly funded by Stockton Borough Council and since 2012 the council has received National Portfolio Organisation funding from Arts Council England to the value of approximately £200,000 per annum. [11] The Festival Programme is delivered by a dedicated team employed by the local authority.
| Director | Years Active | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Frank Wilson MBE | 1988–2012 | Frank was the founding artistic director of the festival and he stepped down in 2012. [4] |
| Jan Doherty | 2012–2018 | Jan started working on the festival in 2005 and succeeded Frank in 2012. [12] |
| Jeremy Shine | 2019–Present | Jeremy was appointed in 2018 to succeed Jan Doherty. [13] |
The SIRF community carnival programme commissions artists to engage with local schools and community groups supporting them to create costumes, carnival structures, music and performances, interpreting an annually agreed theme, which then become a vibrant and colourful procession through the centre of Stockton starting at noon on the Saturday afternoon. By the 2016 festival this had grown to 1,211 participants, spread over 49 different community groups. Previous carnival themes have included:
| Year | Theme | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Crinolines In The Jungle [14] | |
| 2015 | Instant Light | Inspired by the Stockton born John Walker inventor of the friction match. [15] |
| 2016 | Mythical Lands and Fantastical Creatures | A theme to explore myths and tales of weird and wonderful places throughout history. [16] |
| 2018 | Fizz, Bang, Pop | A birthday theme for the 30th anniversary. [2] |
| 2019 | Tales of the Tees Valley | Part of the Great Place programme designed to celebrate the Tees Valley. |
Yarm, also referred to as Yarm-on-Tees, is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. It is in Teesdale with a town centre on a small meander of the River Tees. To the south-east, it extends to the River Leven, to the south it extends into the Kirklevington.
Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in County Durham, England, with a population of 196,000 at the 2021 UK census. It gives its name to and is the largest settlement in the wider Borough of Stockton-on-Tees. It is part of Teesside and the Tees Valley, on the northern bank of the River Tees.
Middlesbrough is a town in the Middlesbrough unitary authority borough of North Yorkshire, England. The town lies near the mouth of the River Tees and north of the North York Moors National Park. The built-up area had a population of 148,215 at the 2021 UK census. It is the largest town of the wider urban Tees Valley area, which had a population of 678,400 in 2021.
Thornaby-on-Tees, commonly referred to as Thornaby, is a town and civil parish on the River Tees's southern bank. It is in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. The parish had a population of 24,741 at the 2011 census, in the Teesside built-up area.
Billingham is a town and civil parish in County Durham, England. The town is on the north side of the River Tees and is governed as part of the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees unitary authority. It had a population of 35,165 in the 2011 Census.
Ingleby Barwick is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. It is south of the River Tees and north-east of the River Leven.
Tees Valley is a combined authority area in Northern England, around the lower River Tees. The area is not a geographical valley; the local term for the valley is Teesdale. The combined authority covers five council areas: Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees.
The Riverside Stadium is a football stadium in Middlesbrough, England, which has been the home of Middlesbrough since opening in 1995. Its current capacity is 34,742, all seated, although provisional planning permission is in place to expand to 42,000 if required.
Stephen Gibson is a British entrepreneur and the chairman and owner of Middlesbrough Football Club. In May 2020, he was listed 481st on the Sunday Times Rich List, with a net worth of £270 million.
Yarm School is a co-educational independent day school in Yarm, North Yorkshire in the North East of England. The school accepts pupils aged 3–18 years old and has a Nursery Pre-Prep, Preparatory School, Senior School and Sixth Form. The school was founded in 1978 and is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.
The Princess of Wales Bridge, sometimes referred to as the Diana Bridge or the Princess Diana Bridge, is a dual carriageway road bridge named after the late Diana, Princess of Wales. It carries Council of Europe Boulevard across the River Tees, Northern England.
Oxbridge is an area of Stockton-on-Tees within the borough of Stockton-on-Tees and the ceremonial county of County Durham, England.
Trinity Green is a public park located on the edge of Stockton Town Centre in Stockton-on-Tees, England. The park is dominated by the preserved ruins and Grade II* listed building of Holy Trinity Church which was gutted by fire in Autumn 1991. Trinity Green was given to the town of Stockton by Bishop William van Mildert at the start of the 19th century, and now serves a space open to the public, hosting occasional cultural and community events.
The Georgian Theatre is a Grade II listed theatre in Stockton-on-Tees, England and is one of the oldest Georgian provincial theatres in the country. The oldest Georgian theatre in its original working form is the Theatre Royal in Richmond, Yorkshire.
ARC Theatre & Arts Centre is an organisation working from the ARC Theatre & Arts Centre in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham. The organisation provides arts-based education and entertainment through partnership with other organisations.
Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council is the local authority of the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, which straddles the ceremonial counties of County Durham and North Yorkshire in England. Since 1996 the council has been a unitary authority, providing both district-level and county-level services. It therefore provides services including Council Tax billing, libraries, social services, town planning, waste collection and disposal, and it is a local education authority. Since 2016 the council has been a member of the Tees Valley Combined Authority, which has been led by the directly elected Tees Valley Mayor since 2017.
The inaugural Tees Valley mayoral election was held on 4 May 2017 to elect the mayor of the Tees Valley Combined Authority. The mayor was elected by the supplementary vote system. Subsequent elections will be held in May 2021 and every four years after 2024.
Ben Houchen, Baron Houchen of High Leven, is a British Conservative politician who was elected as Mayor of the Tees Valley in May 2017 after winning the 2017 mayoral election, defeating Labour candidate Sue Jeffrey by 2.2 percentage points in the second round. Houchen was re-elected in 2021 and won a third term in 2024.
Middlesbrough started as a Benedictine priory on the south bank of the River Tees, its name possibly derived from it being midway between the holy sites of Durham and Whitby. The earliest recorded form of Middlesbrough's name is "Mydilsburgh", containing the term burgh.