City Centre Management held the first ever Buskers & Street Performers Festival in the streets of Cambridge city centre and on Christ's Pieces between Tuesday 29 and Thursday 31 July.
The festival was a huge success and we hope it will be repeated in future years.
There was a diverse range of music and dance throughout the city centre, with buskers from all over the region taking part.
Festival organiser Heather Bevan-Hunt said:
"I am delighted with the response to the festival from residents, visitors and businesses in the city and it really did create a fabulous atmosphere throughout the city and brought a smile to people's faces!
"The objectives of the event were to not only have a great time and enjoy the array of acts on offer, but to also work with and educate the busking community and increase their awareness of the need to follow the Street Performers' Code of Practice.
"Having spent the three days working with the performers, I am confident that this message was successfully received.
"Throughout the three days we were also able to identify new positions for buskers to perform, which is a great result as we can now work with the business community and buskers to ensure the acts are suitable for their surroundings."
A competition was held for the public to vote for their favourite busker throughout the festival. With over 200 responses collected and only two votes separating first and second place, the three final winners were:
- 1st prize: Siyaya Arts, an African music and dance group touring from Zimbabwe
- 2nd prize: Hot Lips & Chilli Fingers, a harmonica & guitar duo playing blues, roots and jazz
- 3rd prize: The Backs Band, a young band playing indie/soul
A massive thanks goes to the following companies and organisations for donating such great prizes and for their support of the festival:
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, The Corn Exchange, Millers Music Centre, John Lewis, Henry’s Café Bar, Teri-Aki & Aki-Teri, Le Patissier, Stazione Restaurant, Cambridge Waffle Co, Evolution & Cambridge Wine Merchants
For more information please contact Heather Bevan-Hunt on 01223 457315 or email heather.bevanhunt@cambridge.gov.uk.
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