It's not easy being green, but it is at Green Festival. Just ask Kermit...
Zumba in the Park
We know. We understand. The excuse that it’s just too nice a day to spend hours locked inside a sweaty gym - also known as windowless torture chamber of doom - is perfectly valid. You simply can’t waste the few mildly warm days of the year on the treadmill. Well, (un)fortunately for you, we have a solution. Hear us out. They’re putting on a proper zumba session on the bandstand at the Arboretum, so you’ll be able to wiggle your booty to the funky riddims, while basking in the glorious sunshine. There’s absolutely no reason for you not to get back into the swing of things. Sorry...
Tuesday 1 September, 6pm, free, The Bandstand, Arboretum
Cobden Chambers Creative Occupations Bureau
The cobbled streets of Cobden Chambers are welcoming a new resident, in the form of COB. Surprisingly not a bread based sandwich case, but an arts cafe cum social enterprise. As well as supplying you with all the coffee and cake your arteries can take, the business aims to create a venue that can support local creative businesses. Well, we’re well up for that. They’re planning on tackling issues such as employability and graduate retention, armed with apprenticeships and battenberg. Brilliant. If all goes to plan, they’ll be opening their doors this week, and will be home to workshops, gigs and cinema, starting with Scalarama this month. Keep your ears to the ground for more info, guys and gals.
Opens Wednesday 2 September, free, Cobden Chambers
American beer, you say? Help drink it, you say?
Bay Area Brew Festival
A huge, forty foot crater of craft beer from the sunniest breweries in Californ-I-A has found itself in Nottingham. In Junkyard, to be precise. Good lord, what on earth are we going to do?! Blinkin’ well drink it, of course. We have all been cordially invited to help the poor souls at Junkyard make their way through the hefty load of ale, in a weekends worth of froth-topped goodness. Sounds naughty, but we promise it’s all above board. With so much beer for you to sample, you’re bound to find sommat that wets your whistle in just the right way. Oo-er. Round up any pals that share your bottomless thirst for the craftiest of liquors, and head on down.
Thursday 3 - Sunday 6 September, free, Junkyard
Resist The Cuts: A People’s Assembly Fundraiser
Young people of Nottingham, listen up. You’ve been smacked right in the goonies with these latest government spending cuts, with income support, jobseekers and young people’s mental health services gerrin the chop, courtesy of Cameron and his band of cronies. It’s time for you to stand up and do sommat about it. And that sommat is having a fair few bevvies and a right owd boogy to some proper Notts music down at The Maze. You’re asked to pay a fiver on the door to help raise money for Nottingham’s People’s Assembly, who are on your side and trying with all their might to end austerity. This one’s open for anyone over the age of sixteen, so message your mates older siblings to borrow their ID so you can have a red stripe or two. Just kidding. Kind of.
Thursday 3 September, 7pm, £5, The Maze
Get your walking boots on for a worthwhile cause...
Maggie’s Culture Crawl
Tucked away amidst a sea of trees, slightly away from the City Hospital, is Maggie’s place - an oasis of architectural brilliance, offering peace and tranquility to visitors, in the midst of a bloody horrible storm. Cancer patients and their families are welcomed with open arms, for a cuppa, a chat and some much needed support. It’s an invaluable service in our city. They’re asking a favour of you - that you take part in, or sponsor, their nighttime culture crawl. Walkers will stroll over the city on a nine mile walk, taking in much of the city’s cultural and historical heritage. Starting at the New Art Exchange and finishing up and the council house ballroom, the walk hopes to raise funds for and awareness of the centre. Walkers are asked to raise a minimum £100 sponsorship money, and pay a £25 registration fee. If you’re not up to walking, you can volunteer to help out on the night, or simply donate some dolla. Gerrinvoled.
Friday 4 September, £25 registration fee, Nottingham City Centre and beyond
Hello Thor Presents
This morning we awoke to blue skies, the smell of coffee freshly brewed by our other half, and a brand spankin’ copy of LeftLion to digest over crisp, crumbly pastries. All was right with the world. And then, a meteor of devastation and disaster plunged our Sunday into turmoil: Cantaloupe aren’t going to play another live show until 2017. WHAT?! We best clear our Friday night schedule, and sharpish, to catch them play their last show for the next two years at The Maze. Along with Barringtone and I Am Lono, you can catch the band giving you their all as part of a monster line-up, courtesy of Hello Thor. At least that’s sommat to keep our spirits up before they dump us like a bag of kittens up shit creek without a paddle.
Friday 4 September, 8.30pm, £5, The Maze
Young Creative Awards Launch
We're not shy about loving and encouraging creativity around these here parts, and we're also known for being partial to a bit of cycling. So imagine our delight when we were told that the Young Creative Awards 2016 launch doesn't just include local musicians, dance performances, the 2015 winner Jamal Sterret and free refreshments - among other things - it also features a fundraising bike ride. We know, they're cramming it in. And why not. The theme for 2016 is Goals and Dreams, which we can more than get on board with and are positive that all those fresh-faced creatives will find a doddle to come up with ideas for. Join in the fun, find out a bit more - be it for yourself or someone you know - and help raise some money.
Friday 4 September, 4 - 7pm, free, Nottingham Playhouse
NOMAD's family friendly festival...
Nottingham World Music Festival
The festival has been billed as having ‘100% positive vibes’. That was all we needed to know before whacking it straight into one of our coveted Pick of the Month spots. Celebrating our multi-cultural, multi-ethnic community, NOMAD (Nottingham’s Original Music Arts and Dance) are bringing you a day full of music from around the globe. Bands including UJAHM, Yubu Ka and Blessing Magore are on the line-up for the family-friendly event, along with a host of information stands, hot food stalls like Uncle Wayne’s Jerk Station, and free activities for the kids. It’ll be a first time festival for the city, and if the weather brightens up, it’ll be a proper summertime knees-up. If not, pack a brolly and your welly boots and get down anyway.
Saturday 5 September, 2pm, free, Sneinton Market
Macmillan Fest
Not many six year olds know how to rock out harder than an overenthusiastic thrash metal fan, but Macmillan Fest is an exception to the rule. A staple on the Nottingham festival scene, it gives as good as it gets. The full line-up is pretty extensive, but to give you an idea, Evil Scarecrow, The Five Hundred, Mannequin, Eyre Llew, Widows, Mammoth Wing, Uneven Structure, Voices From the Fuselage, and As December Falls will all be turning it up to eleven. And if for some reason you can't make the Nottingham leg - or you had so much fun you want to do it all again - they've spread their wings and added a second date in Bristol at the end of the month. Go forth and mosh.
Saturday 5 September, 2 - 10pm, £10, various venues
Kold Chillin 4th Birthday
It’s birthday season. Get your party frocks at the ready and warm up the vocal chords for endless singsongs over candle-adorned cakes. First up, the coolest night to ever take over The Old Angel has graduated from nursery, turning the grand old age of four, and is polishing up the school shoes ready to join the big kids. Kicking off the night will be resident DJs Archive, Lethargy and Hurst, playing the finest hip hop selections money can buy. Speaking of moolah, there will be no door fee for this birthday bash, so you can spend all your hard earned dosh on pints all the way into the early hours. Get down there a little earlier, and prepare your belly for all that booze with a beefy burger from the new resident kitchen, Voltage – cheap, cheerful and proper pre-drink stodge.
Saturday 5 September, 8pm, free, The Old Angel
image: Green Festival website
Green Festival
There are few places in the world as magical as the Arboretum on a summer’s day. Even better when there’s a glorious festival of greenery sprawled all over it. Food stalls, kids’ rides, belly dancing, juggling, workshops, natural therapies, sustainable technologies and performances, as well as live music on the bandstand. Acts confirmed thus far include Ram 1 and the Ites, Ujahm, The Eviltones, and Unknown EraWe, with more to be announced very soon. We can already hear the laughter ringing out from all the pickles being tickled. Unfortunately, due to those ubiquitous government cutbacks, Green Festival was cancelled last year. This year, it’s back with a bloom-ing bang. Gerrit? Good. See you there.
Nottingham Green Festival, Arboretum Park, Sunday 6 September, 12 – 6pm
For the motherload of everything else going on this week check out our comprehensive Nottingham events listings.
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