Town Festivals

Rhythms of the World has won top place in the 'Arts culture and heritage' category in the Charity Awards 2010.

The first ROTW event took place on the streets of the town. It forms part of the Hitchin Festival which is held in the first three weeks in July each year. The Hitchin Festival features concerts and music, drama comedy and poetry, walks and talks, and other events such as the Lavender Fair and the British Schools Museum Summer Fair.

What’s the  ROTW festival all about, and who organises it?

from the festival website  - "In a nutshell, the answers to those two questions are remarkably simple – it’s about us, our local community, coming together to celebrate our diverse local and world cultures – and it’s us, people from the local community who organise it because we think it’s a good thing!

ROTW is a registered charity set up to support the arts in their broadest sense across North Hertfordshire, to celebrate our world culture and to give a focus for people of all ages, race, ability and economic diversity to come together.

 In trendy terms it probably hits all the right boxes of ‘social cohesion’ and other such terminology, but the bottom line is that those of us involved believe that ROTW helps make a difference to our community and the way we all live together."

Now in its 18th year, an estimated 30,000 attended the festival, an event which now completely takes over the town's Priory grounds. 

from BBC local radio - "The 2010 festival took place on the weekend of 24 and 25 July when around 130 acts, involving hundreds of performers, appeared on no less than eight stages! 

Run entirely by volunteers, ROTW has always tried to be more than just a musical festival, and this year was no exception. 

With a huge selection of world food and craft stalls, a children's area, beer tents, poetry readings, art projects and a family picnic chill out area, the organisers once again made sure that there was something for everyone. 

The Festival is not just about music. At the heart of it all, it is a celebration of local and world community - a bridge between different ages, races, cultures, abilities and economic groups."