ON Our Turf returns in 2015 for four LittleFest events coordinated by York Theatre Royal in collaboration with four market town communities in North and East Yorkshire.

In 2013 and 2014, the Theatre Royal partnered with Easingwold, Helmsley, Selby and Pocklington, when each town curated a LittleFest that placed visual arts, storytelling, music, theatre, poetry and dance in spaces across the towns, including shops, hairdressers, pubs, cafes and even the back seat of cars.

This year, the On Our Turf LittleFest events will feature free activities for all ages on jam-packed weekends, plus bespoke ticketed events created by each of the four towns. Most immediately, Selby LittleFest is looking for volunteer artists to perform at the events and is looking to work with a community artist for its upcoming festival on May 16.

The festival will be divided into two parts; a programme of events throughout the day and a headline ticketed evening event in Selby Abbey. This will be inspired by the history and industries in Selby and will be created with various community groups within the town to forge a wider and deeper engagement with the community as both audience and arts makers.

Selby LittleFest is keen to encourage members of the community to volunteer for all aspects of the festival, from performing artists to working on the steering group to plan and programme the event. Karen Banks, Selby LittleFest’s steering group leader, says:

“The last Selby LittleFest was a huge success and there was a fantastic atmosphere with a variety of different art forms taking place throughout the town. It was brilliant to have so many different artists taking part from choirs and bands, to cinema and Japanese Taiko drumming. This year, we’re looking for more people to take part.

As an artist, it gives a fantastic opportunity to showcase your work, while as a volunteer helping to run the festival, you get to know new people, get to see and hear a variety of artists and know that you are promoting arts in the town.”

Those interested in being part of Selby LittleFest should email selby@onourturf.co.uk

“It is genuinely exciting to make work not only with a community, but also using the town itself as a stage,” says On Our Turf producer Alex Wright. “It will be an amazing journey and an extraordinary show.”

On Our Turf is supported by the Arts Council England Strategic Touring Fund and the four LittleFest events planned for 2015 are: Pocklington, April 24 to 26; Selby, May 16; Helmsley, September 25 to 27, and Easingwold, October 3 and 4.