The Borkel en Schaft Arts Festival will take place for the first time from Thursday 5 to Sunday 8 October. This new event, with the themes of ‘connection’ and ‘collective memory’, is created through the collaboration of a group of visual artists and residents of the village. All activities are free of charge.

The initiative for the Borkel en Schaft Arts Festival comes from a number of artists who know each other from the St. Joost School of Art & Design of the Avans University of Applied Sciences. Three of them form the Artists’ Collective ‘t Landje, referring to the garden shed of one of them on the Dommel near Borkel en Schaft. There in the garden shed the idea arose to connect with the village and its residents and organize an event together. The underlying idea is that in this way the collective memory of the village is also addressed: stories, anecdotes and pieces of history that have made Borkel and Schaft what it is today.

Broad programme

A broad program has been put together in collaboration with the Village Initiative and various organizations, associations and residents of Borkel and Schaft. Inspired by the themes of connection and collective memory, about twenty artists will show work at historical and evocative locations such as the former miller’s house, the church, the former dairy factory and the beautiful garden of the house where the mayor lived at the time. There are also exhibitions of local painters and sculptors and of primary school children. The program also includes some workshops, music, a mini theater and a lecture. In the De Woeste Hoeve café, stories are told about the locations, the works of art and life in the village, past and present.

The exhibitions can be viewed free of charge from Thursday 5 to Sunday 8 October from 10:30 AM to 5:00 PM (Thursday until 4:30 PM). The program in De Woeste Hoeve continues. On Friday and Saturday, visitors can enjoy a meal with participating artists and attend a lecture (Friday) or listen to music (Saturday). For the full program see www.kunstenfestivalborkelenschaft.nl (in Dutch only).

Participating artists: Jolanda van Nuenen / Patricia Smits / Hannie Vonsée / Yanick van Gastel / Roel Kruijer / Jaklien Extra / Susanne van Hoorn / Miek van Dongen / Nicole van Osta / Meike Driessen / Jitske Perdijk / Stan Overeem / Jan Janssens / Paul and Maris van Roosmalen / Collective YAFF.

Also participating: Painting club de Quasten, Marianne Wiegmans and Maria Kuipers, pupils from St. Servatius primary school, sculpture group De Verbeelding, saxophone quartet Saxpeditie, jazz quintet Jazz Sir, the percussion group of harmony UNA and Rebecca Nelemans.

Arts festival Borkel en Schaft is realized with the support of Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, Postcode Loterij Buurtfonds, VSBfonds, Municipality of Valkenswaard, Village Initiative Borkel en Schaft, Jong Nederland Borkel en Schaft, De Woeste Hoeve.

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For information, not for publication:

For further information or contact: info@kunstenfestivalborkelenschaft.nl or Yvonne Klunder +31 6 57752611, or Roel Kruijer +31 6 21186430.