Meet our partners
June 24th, 2009 by sparkyFor 15 years art, film, comedy, family entertainment and multimedia have been key elements of the Big Chill, right alongside our varied, interesting and unique music line-up.
This year, we’re creating spaces for even more art, film, comedy and literature at the festival this year, and to fill this space, we are delighted and proud to announce exclusive partnerships with…
The Manchester Guardian was founded by John Edward Taylor in 1821, and was first published on May 5 of that year. The paper’s intention was the promotion of the liberal interest in the aftermath of the Peterloo Massacre and the growing campaign to repeal the Corn Laws that flourished in Manchester during this period. The Guardian was published weekly until 1836 when it was published on Wednesday and Saturday becoming a daily in 1855, when the abolition of Stamp Duty on newspapers permitted a subsequent reduction in cover price (to 2d) allowed the paper to be published daily. Read more…
BFI Southbank (previously the National Film Theatre) screens over 1,000 films a year, from rare silent comedies to cult movies and archive television screenings. The venue hosts previews and gala screenings as well as events and on-stage interviews with film-makers, actors, producers, critics and writers.
Camden’s legendary Roundhouse has continually pushed boundaries in music and performance.
Today the Roundhouse is a space dedicated to nurturing creative young talent, as well as presenting an eclectic line up of the best in Live Music, Theatre, Dance and Circus.
Amnesty is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for human rights. Its work is based on careful research and on the standards agreed by the international community.
Amnesty International UK is one of more than 50 nationally organised sections that make up the Amnesty International worldwide movement.
Amnesty International UK members elect a national board to represent them at the International Council Meeting. This is a gathering of representatives of all sections, which meets every two years to take the major policy decisions of the movement.
The Big Issue exists to offer homeless and vulnerably housed people the opportunity to earn a legitimate income. They produce a weekly entertainment and current affairs magazine which vendors buy from them for 70p and sell to the public for £1.50, keeping 80p for themselves. Vendors must adhere to a code of conduct whilst selling the magazine. They believe in offering ‘a hand up, not a hand out’, but they also recognise that earning an income is the first step on the journey away from homelessness. The Big Issue Foundation is a registered charity which exists to link vendors with the vital support which will help them address the issues which have led to their homelessness. The Foundation works exclusively with vendors, offering support, advice and referrals.
SolarAid’s vision is to make solar energy as widely available as possible to the poorest people in developing countries, helping them bypass the need for dirty, fossil-fueled power and giving them access to all the educational, health and social services that we take for granted in the West. With two billion people in the world not having access to electricity, that’s quite a vision. Yet they believe in being ambitious and visionary and they hope you do too. That’s because the two most important threats facing our world today are global poverty and climate change. Both are linked as the poorest countries will be hit the hardest by the effects of climate change. While they do not claim that solar energy is the magic bullet that can solve these problems single-handedly, they do believe it can play a major role, with your help. Read more…
National Express is part of National Express Group, one of the world’s leading international public transport groups.
Over one billion passengers use their services in the UK, North America and Spain. Their UK division operates coach, train, bus and light rail services.
Underbelly was established to operate the Underbelly venue on Cowgate in Edinburgh during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Since then the company has grown to encompass in 2006, the Udderbelly and Reid Hall, both on Bristo Square. In 2007 we added 10 nights of Silent Disco in the amazing McEwan Hall as well as site specifics works in George Square. In 2008, we incorporated Appleton Tower  at the University into Udderbelly’s Pasture to house Silent Disco and the Sell-Out theatre show Office Party. We therefore facilitated in 2008 13 performance spaces over 3 sites ranging in capacities from 50 to 400 seats, (1000 dancing in Appleton Tower!), with five bars, one cafe, one burger van, one Dairy Disco and 126 shows a day!
Film4 doesn’t just show great films, it makes great films. Headed by Tessa Ross, this is the feature film-making arm of Channel 4 Television. Film4’s most recent releases include Sarah Gavron’s Brick Lane, Anand Tucker’s And When Did You Last See Your Father?, David Mackenzie’s Hallam Foe, which won the Golden Hitchcock at the Dinard Film Festival and a Silver Bear in Berlin, Shane Meadows’ This is England - winner of Best Independent Film and Most Promising Newcomer for Thomas Turgoose at the BIFAs, Julien Temple’s Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten, Lenny Abrahamson’s Garage, which won the Prix Arts et Essai at Cannes’ Directors Fortnight in May and Ken Loach’s It’s a Free World which won the Golden Osella for Best Screenplay at the Venice Film Festival this year.
Warp Films has created some of the most exciting pieces of British film making in the last five years. It has won numerous plaudits and awards (including three BAFTAs) since being set up in 2002. ‘My Wrongs 8245-8249 and 117′ was Warp’s first short film and was directed by Chris Morris. It won the BAFTA in 2003 and for its television premiere on Channel 4, more than one million viewers tuned in to watch it. Warp sold an astounding 22,000 DVDs of My Wrongs and was the first DVD single in the UK market. Read more…
Last.fm is a music service that learns what you love. Every track you play will tell your Last.fm profile something about what you like. It can connect you to other people who like what you like - and recommend songs from their music collections and yours too…and as you use Last.fm, you make it better for you and everyone else. When you recommend some music to a friend, or you tag it, or you write about it - even just listening to it - you shift the song’s importance on the site. It’ll be recommended to different people, because you’ve listened to it. It’ll move up our music charts and maybe more people will hear it because you thought it was good. Read more…
The Institute of Contemporary Arts was established in 1947 by a collective of artists, poets and writers to showcase and champion contemporary culture across a wide range of art forms. Since its establishment, it has been at the centre of many of the most significant artistic and cultural developments in the past 60 years. It has also introduced numerous artists, performers, writers and other cultural figures to a wider audience, both nationally and internationally.
