A Look Back at Mayfest 2024
Video by Dan Canham
In what feels like the blink of an eye, Mayfest 2024 is finished. From Friday 16 May to Sunday 26 May, Bristol transformed into a hub for thrilling live performance from both local and international artists. We got to experience artworks in some of our most loved venues, like Bristol Old Vic and Watershed, as well as in unconventional spaces hidden throughout the city - who knew Nightingale Woods could be so dreamy? Shows, installations, talks and parties unfurling in different corners, all in celebration of this little thing we call Mayfest.
Deep satisfaction with a twinge of melancholy tends to follow when events you’ve poured your soul into are over. The shared experiences, the mishaps that turn into silly tales, all the heart-swelling moments of joy when watching each performance unfold before you - this year’s Mayfest was a union of galvanizing emotions and we are so happy, alongside all the artists, to have made it happen.
This year's edition felt like an outpouring of creative ingenuity in the city that we love so much. We hope that if you were there, that you were able to take something away from your experience, whether that be a heartfelt tear or an echoing belly laugh, a profound conversation or a contemplative silence. In this blog post, we’re sharing team highlights, the Mayfest 2024 film shot by Dan Canham, and some photos from Paul Blakemore that were taken during the festival to give you a glimpse into the joy shared.
We’ll be sharing more Mayfest content on our Instagram, so be sure to follow us @mayfestbristol for more. For those that attended Mayfest this year, we'd love to hear feedback on your experience to help us shape future editions. If you have 5 minutes, fill out our online survey here.
Team Highlights:
“I loved going to the producer meetup at Bristol Old Vic. It was intimate and really nice to meet, connect with and get to know some of the producers around Bristol. I must also give a special shout out to the exquisite iced coffees at Sparks our temporary office during Mayfest.”
Liza (Marketing and Communications Coordinator)
“Taking the wonderfully talented Malik out after their incredible performance of Goner at The Mount Without. Showing them what Bristol nightlife has to offer, and when I say Bristol I obviously mean Stokes Croft - it was a beautiful bonding moment. Another highlight would be bringing the sounds of Amapiano to Bristol Old Vic Theatre during my set at the Opening Party. Watching people stop, raise an ear and join us to celebrate the beginning of Mayfest.”
Josephine (Producer)
“I loved standing, huddled under a gazebo in the torrential rain on the last day of Memory of Birds in St George’s Park, laughing together with the staff, volunteers and audience members at the absurdity of the English weather. And also recreating the parachute game with the gazebo material at Arch (the final Mayfest show) with other MAYK team members, giggling whilst packing down the event.”
Iman (Assistant Producer)
“The best thing I saw was The Dan Daw Show, and what beautiful people make up that team…old friends and new, I enjoyed spending time with them and watching the touching and uplifting performances.”
Gemma (Production Manager)
“I love over-hearing audiences respond to the work in the festival. A group of tired but excited players of asses.masses analysing their collective game strategy, shared tears of wonder after The Making of Pinocchio, fierce debate, laughter, personal reflection – you name it, I love to hear it. It’s so great that Mayfest brings people together in that way.”
Matthew (Co-director)
“asses.masses. 9 hours of pure audience engagement. It was the longest version of the show that has ever taken place. One of my highlights was when everyone in the audience - all together, without discussing - voiced the character of the Golden Ass. It was a chorus of ass, like the golden choir of Watershed.”
Danny (Company Manager)
“I loved being at ARCH at the very end of the festival, feeling the pace slow around me after rushing all day, but also still sensing urgency, as the work of making the arch and the changes of dusk in the sky, and the witnessing both, became the most important things in the world. I loved that space to gather my senses at the end of the week, and loved letting the melting of ice become the reason for everything.”
Rosa (Assistant Producer)
“I wanted to say a little something about a particular feeling that for me is specific to the experience of moving through a festival; in that we’re talking about a gathering of different works and atmospheres and how they talk to each other. How festivals have a cumulative effect and a particular kind of intensity because as well as being about celebrating these extraordinary individual art works, they are also about dialogue and connection.
I’m thinking about walking from one space to another with the memory of what I’m leaving fresh and visceral in my body, and how that sits alongside the anticipation of what I am about to behold. And I know that I will feel the echo of the one in the other, and so on. That nothing is an island. That there are infinite ways of being in the world – lots and lots of possibilities.”
Kate (Co-director)