¡VAMOS! is a biennial festival that celebrates Spanish and Portuguese speaking cultures in NewcastleGateshead, UK. Over 10-days it combines cuisine, art, film, theatre, dance, music, literature, fashion, sport and education! The festival returns this year from 2nd 11th July with the programme LIVE now!
¡VAMOS! offers two distinct elements:
A 10-day international festival appealing to artists, partners and mainstream audiences.
A festival concept unconstrained by art form, age-group or regional location.
2003
The ¡VAMOS! concept was developed 3 years leading up to the 2006 Festival and the ¡VAMOS! Festival Ltd organisation formed in January 2006. The team behind ¡VAMOS! are NAME, a North East based arts business (www.name-site.com).
2006
The first edition was successful with 77 performances, 168 artists and a total attendance 10,000+. View ¡VAMOS! 2006 images here.
2007
In April 12th - 15th 2007 we staged a smaller ¡VAMOS! Weekender. This was aimed at building awareness of the 2008 festival, remind audience of the achievements of 2006 and develop further the latin/lusophone audience in the North East and engender new relationships with sponsors, funders and artists. The four day programme combined film premieres and screenings, talks, visual arts, food events and club and live music events at venues in Newcastle Gateshead. 75% of the capacity audiences were brand new showing an exciting growth for ¡VAMOS! View 2007 images here.
2008
The 2008 edition was a huge success with 73% first time visitors to the festival and total attendance of 20,000+ attendance. View 2008 images here.
2009
In 2009 we again presented a shorter weekender version which included sold out events across a wide spectrum of artforms. View images here.
The overall aims of the ¡VAMOS! Festival:
Position NewcastleGateshead as a truly global location for world-class culture and professionally delivered cultural events.
Foster deeper relationships with embassies, festivals, promoters, artists, academic institutions, media partner and corporate sponsors.
Engage and excite the North East Latin/ Spanish / Portuguese community via the festival as well as the wider North East population.
If you'd like to get involved, have suggestions or just feedback then contact us.
¡VAMOS! Team
There are many partner organisations, independent promoters and artists who contribute to ¡VAMOS! but the core team is:
Nikolas Barrera Director
Nikolas created the ¡VAMOS! concept in 2003. He approached initial partners and funders and developed the full 10 day programme over the next three years. After one year he was introduced to Ian Biddle and Dr. Vanessa Knights from University of Newcastle upon Tyne and they officially linked together for the benefit of the overall ¡VAMOS! project.
Patricia Oliart Programming and Fundraising
Patricia contributed to one of the best events of the first festival (the Martín Chambi exhibition at SIDE Gallery) and ever since then has contributed inspiring ideas, partnerships and programming. After the 2008 edition she came on board in a more formal capacity to help drive the festival forward. Since then the festival has established even more partnerships and diversity.
Jill Bennison Event Management
Jill has worked closely on the festival since 2006 and has been vital in ensuring all the events are delivered smoothly and always with a friendly face! She is a huge asset to the festival and to cultural events in the region generally.
Caiit Read PR, Programming and Event Management
Cait is the main contact for PR activity for the 2010 festival but has already delivered far more to ¡VAMOS! this year. She will be delivering one event during the festival and providing event management through the 10 days.
Andrew Nixon Artist Liaison, Logistics and Event Management
Andrew is also the Director and Treasurer of Vamos Festival Ltd.
