Thames Festival 2011

Saturday 10th to Sunday 11th September 2011
South Bank, London SE1, SE1 9PH, England MAP
FREE

Last updated: Tue 30th Aug 2011

Launched in 1997, The Mayor's Thames Festival has grown to become London's largest free open-air arts festival.

Events

Saturday, 10th and Sunday, 11th September, are the dates set aside for the festival which is open from noon until 10pm between Westminster Bridge and Tower Bridge. Many Thames Festival activities are based on public participation. The festival commissions new work, and transforms unusual spaces on and around the River Thames with a mixture of street arts, performance, carnival, pyrotechnics, illuminations, art installations, exhibitions, river events, massed choirs, circus, music and dance, food and feasting. The finale is a magical illuminated Night Procession that winds along the north and south banks of the Thames, followed by a fireworks display fired from the centre of the river itself.

Line-up

Barclaycard Stage

Saturday: Misty Miller, The Moulettes, Jesca Hoop, Rory McLeod and the Familiar Strangers, Mowgli, ESKA, Wara, Afrikan Boy, Soothsayers with Special Guest Dele Sosimi.

Sunday: Marcus Bonfanti, Skip 'Little Axe' McDonald, Molotov Jukebox, Lewis Floyd Henry, Rasites, Dionne Bromﬁeld, Ghostpoet, Yiddish Twist Orchestra, A.J. Holmes & the Hackney Empire.

The event will also host a lot of activities throughout the weekend. With food, drink, music, interactive art, performances, an illuminated night carnival and river firework finale.

Night Procession

Every year key London roads are closed to traffic for the Thames Festival's spectacular finale event, the Night Procession, with over 2,000 musicians, dancers, performers and masqueraders come from across the country and the world with lanterns, illuminated costumes and fantastic structures. The Procession takes place on Sunday 12th September, starting at 7.15pm on Victoria Embankment, travels east crossing the Thames at Blackfriars Bridge, and finishes behind the Royal National Theatre and Southbank Centre.

The event's river and water-focused activities aim to inspire and excite and its extensive education programme involving some 300 schools hopes to increase interest in and appreciation of the river and its environment. As well as the Barclaycard Stage at Tate Modern, there's the White Mink's Electro Swing Speakeasy and the Lady Luck Jive stage, the family-friendly river and environment zone, displays of Korean Taekwondo, a variety of vintage boats, sculling races and a retro fashion show at St Katharine Docks. Plus a cruise on the Thames with hosts including Charlie Dark, Maxwell Hutchinson, David Starkey, and the creators of Rastamouse.