NOW Live Events are back in the Wilderness this year with an even bigger programme of rejuvenation for all ages, designed to make us ditch our phones, stimulate our senses and jolt us back into the present through artistic activities. The NOW tent and other areas around the site will offer a place to engage with touch, taste, smell, sight and sound to savour the moment and lighten the mind.
Through a celebration of literature, theatre, mindfulness meditation, performance, spoken word, visual arts, dance, feasting, poetry, wild swimming, music and workshops for children, we will be inviting the audience to experience the NOW. “You could feel the adrenaline rush in the audience (when Ruby Wax appeared) … next to bright lights spelling out “NOW”, the name of a new arts and wellbeing event taking place alongside the Wilderness Festival” - The Telegraph
NOW Live Events at Wilderness Festival
Location: NOW Live Events Tent and area & around the site
Thursday 7 – Sunday 10 August
This year’s programme includes:
Author and journalist Oliver Burkeman and Suzy Greaves, editor of Psychologies Magazine, lead a practical workshop in how to bottle the spirit of Wilderness Festival and NOW Live Events by finding time for play, nature and solitude in the chaos of everyday life;
Ed Halliwell, mindfulness expert, teacher and faculty member at The School of Life hosts daily mindfulness sessions exploring how to cultivate stronger awareness, what mindfulness is, how it can be practised, and how it can be of benefit to our well-being;
Poet Anna Selby leads a wild swimming and poetry workshop for the adventurous at heart to wake up all your senses and introduce you to an array of the best poems about water through swimming, writing and reading;
Author and commentator Tom Chatfield explores digital discernment and how to think about technology and time: what does it mean to make best use of technology’s opportunities in our lives to be more present in the here and NOW?
Guerilla Science invite you to celebrate the NOW with manifold facets of flavour through their sensory smorgasbord ‘Flavour Feast’, exploring the tantalizing mysteries of your senses and their ability to root us in the moment;
Polly Bennett, previously movement practitioner at the Royal Shakespeare Company, explores physical boundaries and habitual movement, with a view to increase both awareness, creative possibilities and to have a jolly good time;
Craftivist Collective’s founder Sarah Corbett presents a practical workshop and talk about craft as a meditative tool to stop, reflect and act on injustice issues in a transformative and gentle way, creating a free NOW craft momento to keep;
Action for Happiness explore vital themes for happiness – like gratitude, hope, acceptance and wonder – exploring what these might mean for you, right here and right NOW through a hands-on workshop;
The recent London Design Museum designer in residence Freyja Sewell presents an immersive environment built around the theme of being in the NOW for audience members to interact and engage with (using 100% reclaimed materials in collaboration with Traid);
Simon Mole, poet, emcee and theatre-maker will be exploring writing as right now, again and again and again and writing as a way to love the world – compose an instant ode to hangovers, a haiku to hold up the beauty of breakfast, or a rap about finding peace failing to pitch a tent in the rain;
Award-winning artist and animator Phoebe Boswell leads a portraiture class for all levels and ages, to enable a proper chat between strangers, exploring how we use drawing to ways we see and relate to one another;
Awaken your ears, eyes and taste-buds to classical music with BitterSuite’s immersive music and movement workshop – an imaginative experiment in active listening – you will never hear in the same way again;
Peader Kirk, artist and mentor, engages with what it means to be together and how we model the world – his playful workshop will be filled with interaction and engagement with others through performance;
The MonoBox, who support actors at the early stages of their career, host a debate around how theatre reflects the NOW with some of the UK’s leading theatre creatives – a panel discussion involving some key voices in UK theatre striving to create bold, responsive work;
Libby Davy from Egg House Art invites you to find out what happens when you mix being in the moment with poetry and premium grade chocolate – watch your words flow free – in love letters, free style stanzas and more;
Lotan Sapir, dancer, choreographer, mime artist and performance director of Secret Cinema leads her ‘borderless bodies’ workshop every morning to kick off the day’s programme, encouraging us to use our bodies to wake up in the mornings with some dynamic physical movement workshops, exploring physical movement as a space of presence;
Matt Nightingale, artist and sculptor, leads a sensory sculpture workshop, creating sculptures of each other within the festival while using unique creative methods to engage and surprise audience members;
Mindfulness in Schools Project hold daily mindfulness training for children and parents, directing our attention to our experience as it unfolds, moment by moment, with open-minded curiosity and acceptance – already taught to thousands of children worldwide (ages 4+);
Author and founder of Paper Therapy, Jackee Holder, invites you to capture the magic of Wilderness Festival in a hands-on and interactive creative writing experience plus one-on-one sessions for all levels;
Clown and mindfulness teacher Philip Cowell gets people singing and having a lark in a very merry manner – showcasing the playful potential of the NOW and the power of singing;
Qureshi join us from our London summer festival, an experimental band who blend cinematic sounds, jazz and hip hop fusion find out what your reactions are in the NOW, playing them as vocal loops to create a NOW song (available for free download after the event);
Step into the world of sound and sense with BitterSuite at the NOW Dome, with various timed installations that immerse, illuminate and tantalise your senses;
Oxfordshire Mind lead their workshop ‘The Human Search Engine’ every day, a unique and interactive experience, designed to challenge your preconceptions about mental health, stereotypes, and stigma.
NOW will also be creating specially inspired arts installations and an area to lie in the grass and listen to our NOW headphones, playing recordings of NOW authors and musings throughout the festival.
Buy Tickets to the Festival at wildernessfestival.com.