FUSION FESTIVAL – Sat 17 June 2017
Gravesend Town Centre locations

AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITY – Public Feedback

Public comments and feedback collected through participatory artists led community activity:

  • A wonderful event, makes me so happy!
  • Very good event, would be great to have more arts & culture events in town.
  • Lovely, well planned event to bring the community together. Please keep this going annually!
  • Grandioso Super!
  • Very good event. Great way to get everyone together using Music / food and entertainment.
  • Super-tastic!!!
  • Positive event with the community definitely coming together.
  • Good advertising but some people were not reached / were aware of the event. For future wider publicity for the event in advance across the area and beyond.
  • Good for young people to come together through diverse music.
  • More advertising needed. We just happened to be in town and find out about the event. It was lovely!
  • Brass musicians + food in the market was excellent. Good vibes!
  • Fantastic festival. My favourite bit was the 3 girls dancing outside the library. Brilliant to see young talent featured.
  • Excellent event! Such a perfect way to increase community spirit + encouraging togetherness across ages, backgrounds and cultures.
  • Loved the idea of street music and performance.
  • Better advertising / more creative posters and leaflets please so everyone takes notice. Event truly does bring everyone together.
  • Loved the performances.
  • Fantastic to see all community together celebrating multicultural communities.
  • Excellent fun for the children and for raising the community spirit. Lots more of this needed please!
  • Wonderful mix of cultures!
  • Should happen more often! And needs more drink / food stalls + free beer please!!
  • Brilliant! Needs more hands-on activities for the kids to join in though. Making artworks, learning dances, playing instruments, working with artists & performers etc. Otherwise a perfect event.
  • Fantastic colour in town!
  • Mixed cultures coming together in Band + community.
  • The 3 little girls dancing to steel band were fabulous!
  • I spoke to more people today in Gravesend than ever before. And I’m born & bred here. Such positive open atmosphere. Entertainment for all ages.
  • Really positive contribution to the town.
  • Helps to get sense of community back in Gravesend.
  • Really nice event. Enjoyed it a lot. Thanks.
  • Great to see everyone moving + dancing in town. Very enjoyable event.
  • Amazing performances by all artists, dancers and musicians.
  • So much love under one roof (at the market during community lunch) – fabulous feeling.
  • Bringing the event to town centre is a brilliant idea! People will just come across the performances whether they knew about it or not. Great free entertainment that brings a smile to people’s faces.
  • Music performances in the market were great – more more more please!
  • What a wonderful Bhangra display. Loved it!
  • Please provide more information available for next event. Promote in local Facebook community groups, family services etc.
  • Amazing performances and great music. Kids loved all of it and were inspired. Need to see something like this more often in town.
  • Great to see the festival promenading through town & be on the move rather than a static event.
  • Very entertaining + well worth the specific visit in town.
  • Good programme of performers and very entertaining but would be amazing to see something really spectacular take place on the streets of Gravesend at future festival, like giant puppets, dinosaurs, circus / aerial acts etc. Something BIG & unexpected that would put the event and Gravesend on a map and bring in visitors from outside the town too.
  • Thank you to organisers for providing such good quality free entertainment for all participants. Really grateful that someone is making the effort to bring events like this to all people. Well done!

Artists’ observations & comments:

  • Approx. 120+ participants engaged in the visual arts activity during the event in 4 different locations
  • Mostly family groups with children up to the age of 12
  • In general very positive feedback both about the programme of acts as well as the idea of the pop-up festival, bringing the event to the town centre
  • Quite a few comments that people didn’t know about the festival prior to coming to town but enjoyed then taking part and wanted to know more. Some suggested that maybe more Fusion Festival branding is needed in town during the festival so that people know what the event is all about and who is organising it (banners, flags, staff wearing Fusion t-shirts etc)
  • Selection of photos downloadable via Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8cbuu9qkidzn5lv/AACQMcA_RQpoGxGQwMwUZSlza?dl=0