Open mic performers are invited to register through our form beforehand, or sign up at the door if there are last-minute slots remaining.

  GET THE WEEKEND OR DAY PASS  

Creative ZINE-MAKING Workshop

with Pauline Arnould

 Ideas Festival  / Sat 21 Nov / 1 - 2.30 pm

Are you curious about the rebellious art of the zine? Join this hands-on workshop to learn more about it and create your own.

You'll get an introduction to the punk and feminist history of "fanzines", the DIY publications that gave voice to people who were told they didn't have one. Then it's your turn to tap into your creativity, experiment with collage, drawing and words, and discover how a few folded pages can become a powerful way to connect with your community.

You'll end the workshop having completed your own handmade zine, which you are invited to display as part of the Ideas Festival literature installation.

No prior experience required. Just bring your stories, doodles and opinions.
Supplies provided.

ABOUT THE HOST

strung together
VIOLIN, COMPOSER, ART

Art & Music with Peter Sheppard Skaerved & Nigel Clarke

 Ideas Festival  / Sat 21st Nov / 3.15 - 4.30 pm

What happens when a violinist picks up a paintbrush, and composers pick up their pens? Revel in a show like no other, where sound, image and object cross into one.

Grammy-nominated violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved has long been celebrated for his championing of new music. Less widely known is his parallel life as a painter. In this special performance, he brings the two worlds together, presenting music written by some of today's leading composers in direct response to his visual work. The programme features  violin miniatures by Robert Saxton, Sadie Harrison, and other distinguished composers. Each piece is a small, concentrated musical portrait: a colour, a gesture, a mood caught on canvas and translated into sound. As the music unfolds, projections of the paintings that inspired it will accompany the performance.  

A new musical creation also premieres at this event. Brussels-based composer Nigel Clarke has composed a short new work based on several objects proposed by the festival's audience. Objects that somehow mean connection to each of us. Everyday things become the seeds of music, and you can now hear what they have grown into.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Peter Sheppard Skaerved is 'one of the finest living exponents of the violin’ (Gramophone Magazine September 2026). A renowned violinist, chamber musician and researcher known for his pioneering approach to the music of the past and of our own time. He has released over 90 albums of solo and chamber music, performed as a soloist in over 30 countries and has had morethan 400 works written for him by composers such as Judith Weir, Michael Finnissy and Hans Werner Henze. A prolific recording artist, both as a soloist and as leader of the Kreutzer Quartet, he is also the recipient of numerous awards and a former Grammy Award nominee. Peter is the only living violinist to have performed on the violins of Ole Bull, Joachim, Paganini and Viotti. He is also Viotti Lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music (UK) and was recently named Honorary Professor at the Royal Northern College of Music in recognition of his contribution to music research and the positive impact his work has had on the industry.

Nigel Clarke studied composition at the Royal Academy of Music with Paul Patterson, where he was awarded the Academy’s highest distinction, the Queen’s Commendation for Excellence. Clarke has previously held positions as Young Composer in Residence at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Composition and Contemporary Music Tutor at the Royal Academy of Music, London, Head of Composition at the London College of Music and Media, Visiting Tutor at the Royal Northern College of Music, Associate Composer to the Young Concert Artists Trust,  Black Dyke Band, the Band of HM Grenadier Guards, Brass Band Buizingen, Middle Tennessee State University Bands, Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall and International Composer-in-Association to the Grimethorpe Colliery Band. Clarke has also co-written film soundtracks to:Jinnah, The Little Vampire, The Little Polar Bear, The Thief Lord, Baseline, & Willand in 2006 was a co-nominee at `The World Soundtrack Awards’ in the `Discovery of the Year’ category. In 2008 Clarke was awarded the title of Doctor of Musical Arts from University of Salford.

ThE POLITICS OF DISCONNECTION

A Salon with Louisa Toxvaerd Munch

 Ideas Festival  / Sat 21st Nov / 7.30 - 9pm

*Hours might change*

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Louisa Toxvaerd Munch  is a Danish critical theorist, writer, and educator whose work examines nostalgia, historical consciousness, and the political conditions enabling the resurgence of the far right. A PhD researcher and teacher at the University of Warwick, she brings critical theory to a broad public audience through writing, lectures, and social media. Drawing on Arendt, hooks, and Freire, she champions education as a democratic safeguard against manufactured ignorance. She is the author of the forthcoming Glitch: How to Think in a Time of Monsters (Allen Lane/Penguin), which reframes societal breakdowns as sites of resistance and collective agency.

GOOD READS

Glitch: How to Think in a Time of Monsters (forthcoming, Allen Lane/Penguin).

SINGER GUNDRUN ROSE (SUZETTE)
& PIANIST JASPER HUYSENTRUYT

Music Concert

 Ideas Festival  / Sat 20th Nov / 9-10 pm

Revel in a unique concert blending timeless jazz standards, French chansons, bossa nova, and original compositions and lyrics by Suzette & Jasper.

Their collaboration reflects artistic refinement and a shared passion for music with depth and character.

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ABOUT THE MUSICIANS

Gudrun Roos, also known by her musical alter ego Suzette, is distinguished by her poetic presence and warm, jazzy voice. She trained in jazz vocals at the Conservatory of Ghent and has since performed with various ensembles and in a wide range of musical theater projects. Under the pseudonym Suzette, she has developed her own repertoire, where the lyricism of French chanson, the subtle sounds of bossa nova, and the refined nuances of jazz beautifully converge. 

By her side is pianist and composer Jasper Huysentruyt, trained in both classical music and jazz. After fourteen years of professional activity in Chile, where he performed with his trio at all major jazz festivals and released several albums, he returned to Belgium. Jasper has built a strong reputation in both the Latin American and international jazz scenes, with concerts spanning from the Atacama Desert to Patagonia, and albums that subtly weave together nature, classical, and jazz influences. His playing is praised for its versatility and expressive subtlety. 

Eighteen years ago, singer Gudrun Roos and pianist Jasper Huysentruyt first took the stage together. Starting September 2025, they will once again present a series of joint concerts. 

LINKS

Suzette Music

Creative Writing Workshop

FAMILY LEXICON:
WRITING FICTION IN A SECOND LANGUAGE

with Eleonora Balsano

 Ideas Festival  / Sun 22nd Nov / 11 am - 1 pm

Many multilingual people never try writing fiction because they think they aren't allowed to, since their vocabulary is too limited, their grammar isn't perfect and they’ve heard at some point in their lives that ‘real writers only write in their mother tongue’. None of this is true!

Many of the best novels of recent decades were written by people using a language they learned as adults. In this workshop we'll start from the words we all carry from childhood, the nicknames, family expressions and invented words that only make sense at home, and we'll use them as material for writing in the language we use now. Through short exercises, participants will see that writing in a second language can make their prose more precise and more personal, and that what they see as a limitation is often what makes their writing interesting.

If you speak more than one language and have always wanted to write fiction, whatever your level of experience, this is for you. 

ABOUT THE HOST