Community Carnival Procession Canterbury Festival would like to re-vive the Carnival tradition and by putting on a spectacular street procession and display involving the many ethnic and community groups and schools in the area. There has been a tradition of lantern processions to start the Canterbury Festival and for 2008 we would like to engage with a wider range of groups, bringing the people of Canterbury and the surrounding villages and towns onto the streets in a colourful celebration of our rich cultural heritage. Working with local artists and musicians, there will be workshops for everybody taking part and the thought is to encourage the groups to bring their own ideas to the table, helping to create a rich and vibrant display. We want to offer the opportunity to become involved in this project to as many people as possible and especially those living in areas that have little or no involvement with the arts. Literature Programme The Canterbury Festival offers a multi arts programme and is building on this year on year. We have been building the scope of the programme and have now identified the need to develop more literature-based events within this programme. 2008 is National Year for Reading and Literature has also been targeted as a priority area within the local government. Using the Festival as the showcase for a variety of literary events will help to highlight the activities that are starting to take place in the region. Some features of the new literature programme include: · Man Booker Prize at 40 – A Canterbury Festival Celebration · A Festival debate · World Poets Showcase · The Festival Read · Poet in Residence · Young Critics scheme The Cathedral Play The Canterbury Festival has been commissioned by the Canterbury Cathedral to co-produce and fundraise for a play written especially for the Cathedral setting. Taking inspiration from the original Cathedral plays of the 1920s and 30s, the most famous of these being TS Eliot’s Murder In the Cathedral , the Cathedral hope to bring this tradition into the 21st century, showing the churches wish to engage with the arts in a contemporary way, using the Cathedral’s beautiful setting as the arena. The production of the play has a budget of £260,000 for which £180,000 has already been committed.