In this post we meet Naomi Taylor, Founder and Creative Director of Chiltern Arts. This county-wide festival hosts performances and recitals in villages and towns around the Chilterns. The festival comes to Berkhamsted in spring 2023, with poetry at the Mad Squirrel Brewery, Northumbrian folk at The Gatsby and the music of Brahms and the Schumanns at St Peter’s Church. Cultural events in Berkhamsted that are not to be missed!
Can you tell us a little bit about Chiltern Arts: when was it founded and why?
I founded Chiltern Arts in 2017 with the intention of bringing the highest quality classical music to the towns and villages of the Chilterns — an idea that grew from both my own love of festivals, and my discovery of the beautiful places in the Chilterns.
Chiltern Arts brings culture out of London to the Chilterns. Why is this important?
We’re aware that not everyone can afford the ticket prices of some of the top events in the capital — let alone the added cost of travel to get to those concerts, and especially now in the midst of the cost-of-living crisis. It can also be a tricky journey depending on where you live in the Chilterns, and for some people the long journey and late night might put them off travelling to concerts that aren’t nearby. We wanted to give local people the opportunity to hear that same high-quality music right on their doorstep — and as an added bonus, it’s often in a much more intimate setting than you might find in London, as we use a variety of churches and other local venues for our festival events.
The theme for the 2023 festival is ‘Love, Loss and the Passage of Time’. Can you tell us about the thinking behind this?
Some people believe that working to a theme is too constraining — but the trick with a theme is to set one that is broad enough so that it actually encourages creativity, but is focussed enough to be able to talk about things in a connected way. It’s a great starting point for a conversation with an artist about what they might like to bring to the festival too, and I love the way things can develop in totally unexpected directions. This particular theme took a little while to emerge in its final form, but it always spoke of love and loss — and the passage of time seemed to link those two ideas together in a nice neat way. Perhaps it isn’t the most original theme — but aside from being timeless things to discuss and explore, and concepts that all humans are intimately familiar with, these things now seem even more relevant to all of us following the complex pandemic period we have just lived through. Artists throughout history have tried to covey these concepts in their work through every medium you can think of — and I’ve loved exploring the many different ways we can present the theme throughout the festival season. The time aspect of the theme has opened up some really interesting avenues, including a brilliant collaboration with a leading horologist and a competition for artists of all ages to depict timepieces!
What can people expect from the Chiltern Arts events in Berkhamsted?
With three events in Berkhamsted this year I think it’s the most events Chiltern Arts have held in this town — which also happens to be my hometown — since we started in 2017. In May we have the relatively new group, Echor, performing a really rather wonderful programme of Brahms and both Robert and Clara Schumann, examining the quite short period of time when the three of them were very close — the infamous love triangle through the lens of glorious chamber music written by the three composers.
And in March, we open the season in Berkhamsted for the first time — a poetry event at a brewery, followed by folk music with dinner at the Gatsby. Quite an evening!
The poetry event welcomes poet and scholar Dr Mark Burrows, who joins us in person all the way from Maine USA and will be exploring the work of Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke — whose work, if you don’t know, you simply must. Mark’s translations of Rilke are full of beauty, curiosity and a connection with the text that is so precious and rare in translated work — and his insights offer a path to understanding the work and mind of this great writer. There’s a video from Mark here if that’s a useful link!
And afterwards we have the wonderful folk duo Kathryn Tickell (Northumbrian piper and fiddler) and Amy Thatcher (accordionist and clog dancer!) performing an hour-long set at the Gatsby, where you’ll be greeted with fizz and canapés, and served a two-course meal after the concert. Heaven!
At The Event Hub, we are all about celebrating our local area. Could you share what you like (or what has drawn you) to working in Berkhamsted’s venues?
As mentioned, I live in Berkhamsted, so I might be biased… but the town is one with a fabulous friendly atmosphere, so it’s lovely to run events here. St Peter’s church itself is a particularly gorgeous one for music — the acoustic is just wonderful, and it’s a beautiful building. I often find time to go and simply sit in there to enjoy the space, to sit and think (or to muse about the next event we might bring there!). It’s a big space, too, which makes it flexible for almost any kind of musical performance. The Gatsby is a favourite of ours — perfect for an intimate evening of music (not to mention the great food and killer cocktails…). And the Mad Squirrel is a new one for us — but we love the wood-panelled event space above the taproom: intimate, cosy, and comfy and perfect for poetry.
Best thing about what you do:
Without a doubt it’s the people I get to meet and work with, both in terms of artists and creatives and colleagues, members, volunteers and audience. People who work with or around festivals have a special kind of energy, and it’s wonderful to see artists and volunteers and audiences get swept up in that energy as our events come to life.
Is there anything else you would like people to know?
It’s a difficult time financially for lots of people at the moment, and in the arts world, it’s no different. We know the cost-of-living crisis is squeezing everyone’s pockets, and we know that music and literature can feel like a luxury… but it’s culture like this that keeps us human, and we must do all we can to keep the arts alive in this country. Chiltern Arts, as with so many organisations at the moment, is struggling for funding, but we continue to do all we can to keep bringing events of the highest quality to our local venues because we believe it’s vital to keep our communities thriving. If you can do anything to support your local arts scenes, please do: we’re counting on you.
Find out more about the Chiltern Arts events in Berkhamsted on The Event Hub Dacorum or explore all of the festival events taking place across the Chilterns this spring 2023.
