Long Division Festival 2018
Friday 1st to Sunday 3rd June 2018various venues, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, WF1 1EH, England MAP
mostly free, £25 for priority access to all shows
After a year off Long Division Festival returns to venues across the city of Wakefield, West Yorkshire from Friday 1st until Sunday 3rd June 2018, consisting of a mix of free and paid cultural events from across the arts with 90% of the festival free as part of a commitment to make the arts accessible to all in West Yorkshire.
Billy Bragg will headline the festival at the stunning Wakefield Cathedral. Also on the bill is Scottish troubadour King Creosote, ex-Ash guitarist Charlotte Hatherley, and Helen Marnie of electronic outfit Ladytron. There's also Leeds indie-legends Cud, psych-punk duo The Lovely Eggs, avantjazzers Shatner's Bassoon, plus Mush, Cattle & Cane, Galaxians, Drahla, Mi Mye, Team Picture, Adore // Repel, Glass Mountain, Cape Cub, Peaness, Esper Scout, The Fire Harvest, Loux, Radidas, The Golden Age Of TV, Napoleon IIIrd, Crake, Simon Widdop, Colour of Spring, The Tidy Wives, and Loz Campbell.
When asked about reviving the festival and booking for the festival again, founder Dean Freeman said: “It's wonderful to be back in the game of announcing artists and projects again. Taking a year out in 2017 was tough because we were just bystanders, whilst the world turned on without us. I don't think it's often a festival like us has that luxury, to step off the treadmill and really think about what it wants to be. We learnt our passion isn't for people up on a stage playing guitars; it is for culture and how it brings people together. It's also a passion for our city and for creating opportunities for artists and performers where there can often be too few.”
Alongside the music, Long Division will be hosting an exciting number of arts and cultural installations and events which will be unveiled over the course of the next few months that will include a collaboration with Wakefield Artwalk, as part of their 10th anniversary celebration and the Arts Council England supported "A Manifesto For A New Wakefield" which includes brand new commissions, the first of which is from Jamie Lockhart of Wakefield’s Mi Mye. Taking inspiration from a songbook from 1851 owned by his Great Great Great Grandfather, who was a Piper for Queen Victoria, Jamie will create a new piece of work exploring his and his Grandfather’s journeys from their homes on the far North Coast of Scotland to London and Wakefield.
Long Division 2018 will take place in venues across the city including: Wakefield Cathedral, Warehouse 23,
Wakefield Town Hall, Elizabethan Gallery, The Red Shed, Wakefield Beer Exchange, Jolly Boys' Tap, Neon Workshops,
Wakefield Precinct and many more to be announced.
Saturday tickets for Long Division cost £25.
A wristband to access 90% of the day's activities is free, but will require a ticket. For priority access buy a Pioneer ticket, priced at £25. More expensive options to help select artists as well as attend the festival are also available.