The Riverfront Theatre and Arts Centre is delighted to once again be involved in Art on the Hill, this year taking place from 26 – 28 November. Each year in November, this weekend long festival celebrates Newport’s creative community and their work.

After supporting the festival digitally last year with a livestream touring the artwork on display across Newport, including in The Riverfront’s windows, the arts centre is delighted to be able to deliver a packed programme of activity in person this year.

The weekend-long programme officially launches at The Riverfront on Friday 26 from 6pm, as local musicians and performers take to the foyer stage as part of the free monthly event, Live at The Riverfront. This special Live at The Riverfront event focuses on supporting local talent in our area, and performers will include fiddle player Kat Batchelor, acoustic folk singer songwriter Ronnie 3 Chords and winner of Open Mic UK 2021 Josh Hicks.

Sally-Anne Evans, The Riverfront’s Community Arts Development Officer and organiser of the Art on the Hill activities at The Riverfront comments ‘It’s so exciting to be opening the Art on the Hill weekend this year with an evening of live music and performance. We know we have so many talented people in our local area and this evening features artists who responded to a call out we placed on social media; we’re delighted to be giving them their first opportunity to perform at The Riverfront. We are well known for our Art on the Hill Saturday craft markets which feature so many perfect gifts from talented stallholders. This market was definitely missed by the community last year, so we hope that this year’s is better than ever before!’

On the Saturday from 11am – 4pm The Riverfront will showcase local artists and craft makers with a free craft market throughout the theatre foyer. There will be a range of wonderful handmade crafts on display to be purchased ahead of the festive season. Exhibitors will include Inside Out Cymru selling small items including wire jewellery, bead and crochet decorations. Their items have been made by the members of their weekly craft class at The Riverfront, with all profits being donated back to these future workshops.

On both Saturday and Sunday, The Riverfront will host a range of free and paid workshops for all ages. Young people can take part in free Playwriting Workshops from Theatr Iolo. Delivered in Welsh and English language, the sessions encourage children’s imaginations to tell stories and explore themes that they are passionate about. These workshops form part of Theatr Iolo's Fair Saturday activities to promote a world that is more virtuous, fair and aware of people’s needs through arts and culture. For adults there are Needle Felting workshops to create a quirky bird brooch with artist Ruth Packham; and a Mindful Movement Session that will lead you through a series of gentle guided movement and visual art practices, incorporating the elements that are in tune with the seasons and nature.

Throughout the weekend and up until the end of the month, the Riverfront’s Mezzanine Gallery space is displaying the Red Shoes Poster Archive. Curated by Shaun Featherstone, this artist-let radical poster archive consists of a range of posters which represent a wide variety of social justice issues. The aim of the archive is to help preserve the social history of people powered movements and campaigns by collecting and displaying inspiring images which reflect both contemporary and historical struggles for progressive social change and equality.

In addition to this unmissable exhibition, CONSUMERSMITH’s piece ‘May Love Be What You Remember Most’ is on display with prints of the piece available to purchase. As a registered charity, the sale of these prints will help The Riverfront fund future projects with artists and the community to bring more people together to enjoy the arts and creativity.

Andrea Ovey, Director of Business Development for Newport Live who run The Riverfront, said “We can’t wait to be part of this fantastic festival of art once again. It’s great that this we can welcome people back to the theatre in person to get involved and enjoy free live music and workshops. Newport is such a vibrant city with so many fantastic cultural organisations and artists, I’d urge everyone to get involved with the activity happening across Newport during the Art on the Hill festival.”

Keep up to date with everything that’s happening at The Riverfront for the Art on the Hill weekend by following the venue on social media (The Riverfront / @riverfrontarts) and via their webpage newportlive.co.uk/AOTH. There is a range of other activity happening across the city for Art on the Hill, find out more about this by following Art on the Hill on social media at @aoth_np20.