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Galtres Festival has teamed up with a troupe of artists, actors and musicians from York to bring a new mix of carnival colour and talent and carnival to the event.

Known collectively as the Arts Barge Project, the group are working towards getting a new floating art and performance venue launched onto the Rover Ouse. And one key step on the way to that is this year's Galtres Festival.

"We have decided to get involved in the Galtres Festival because we see it as a fantastic opportunity to raise the profile of The Arts Barge Project. It's a really exciting challenge for us to do something collaboratively with an established festival on such a big scale," explained Hannah West, one of the skippers.

She explained what Arts Barge would bring to Galtres: "The ever-changing musical collective, The Arts Barge Orchestra, featuring a host of talent from amongst the various bands playing the stages. We will bring an artistic ambience to the festival site with an array of colorful carnivalesque costumed characters and the And How Theatre Co. and other interactive theatrical shenanigans adding to the mix.

"Come and find out more about the project and meet the crew in The Arts Barge Tent where The Vintage Tea Company will be serving refinery and soup on sofas so you can sit back, relax and enjoy!

"Some of the money the Festival hopes to raise will be used for a feasibility study for the project which we need to finally open our Arts Barge which will incorporate a cafe bar and a flexible space for high quality small scale music, theatre, comedy, dance and visual arts on the River Ouse in York."

Arts Barge Project artists and festival goers will join forces to transform a farmer's field into a magical realm with interactive art making opportunities and workshops around the site.  If you’re feeling green you could get involved with the creation of a willow maze in the festival’s eco garden lead by artist Heather Dawe. You could even have your portrait painted or buy an original work inspired by the festival ambience, by renowned artists Bobby Gondo, Raymond Bizarre and Lesley Seeger.

Kids big and small will want to cozy up in the Mongolian yurt to hear musical magical folk tales from around the world brought to you by Phoenix Puppets and tales for the telling will be told by Mr. Martin Riley. MYSTERIUM INGENII is an eccentric entertainment for all ages, the puppet theatre, actors and props made entirely of recycled materials. The proprietor, Deborah Sutcliffe, has been recycled too, and the plays are a patchwork of favorites and memories.

Musicians will be working together to produce collaborations for both The Duke’s and The Oxman stagesand their musical incarnations will take you to the café’s in 1940’s Paris and into the world of Belleville. They will introduce you to ranks of guitarists, ukuleles, snare drums, and double basses, with groups of singers and horns backing the likes of Chris Helme and Andy Stones, the familiar Galtres voices of Holly Taymar and Matt Grace, and this year's York Battle of the Bands winners Littlemores.

Visit also www.myspace.com/theartsbargeproject