Brand new and unique in the UK, INTERROGATE! will take place between 23 and 25 September, taking a fresh approach to looking at income inequality, its impact and what we can all do about it. We hope that INTERROGATE! will be game changing, inspiring people – people like you and us – to take action.

Taking place on the Dartington estate, a home for forward thinking for 85 years, it’s a spotlight on a serious issue, but it’s also about getting inspired and having fun.

We’ve spent the last few months lovingly constructing a programme that lines up some of the UK’s most forward looking thinkers and activists – plus some fiercely funny comedy and cabaret shows, great gigs and all manner of other performances – to get you inside, under and on top of the issues.
Whether you’re someone who shouts at the telly during Question Time, you work in an area where income inequality is an issue, or you just fancy a weekend of thought-provoking ideas and performance in the beautiful Devon countryside, Interrogate is for you.

Our thinkers and activists are some of the sharpest minds in the worlds of economics, social policy and health – for starters, Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson, authors of the best-selling The Spirit Level; TV’s favourite geographer, Danny Dorling; Economics for Dummies author and lecturer Peter Antonioni and environmentalist and co-founder of the Transition Network, Rob Hopkins. Also taking to the stage are comedian Mark Steel with a special one-off show; multiple award-winning musicians Spiers and Boden (of Bellowhead fame); and the acclaimed Jean Abreu Dance company.

Aside from the performances, debates and podcasts, there are loads of opportunities to have your say. Tell us what you think on Speakers Corner, add your thoughts to our People’s Manifesto or join the Interrogate Choir. We can pretty much guarantee you’ll go home feeling inspired, having had a great time, made some new friends, thought a bit, and laughed a whole lot more.

Keep an eye out here and on twitter (@juliaatthehub) for full programme details over the next couple of weeks, and book tickets via the Dartington website. Fair play to us all!

Producer Matthew Linley is already on site, pacing the site and glancing anxiously at the skies (seems the weather’s going to be great though – it’s been worth keeping our fingers crossed all week!), and others are busy packing for the journey to Dartington tomorrow.

The line up is a corker. We’re very excited about the line up: Suzanne Vega is headlining (one of only 3 UK shows this year – the others being Glastonbury and Hyde Park!), alongside: Songlines Best Newcomer nominees Tamikrest; Alejandro Toledo and the Magic Tombolinos; Sheema Mukherjee; Max Pashm, and Perunika.

Like festivals used to be when we were nippers (well, sort of…), HOME is that all too rare chance to get up close and personal with exceptional artists, and – as an added bonue – in the beautiful the Dartington estate.

Find out more on the Dartington website.

Hope to see you there…. Don’t forget the suntan lotion!

I duly put together some possible options or pointers that festivals might find it useful to think about, carefully packed my copy of the new Arts Council England bestseller Achieving Great Art for Everyone and convened a discussion on a rainy Sunday morning. What followed was a lively hour-long discussion, focused on issues raised as important by those around the table, and on sharing with each other the huge amount of experience there was amongst those present. Tips on income generation shared across the table ranged from festivals joining their local chambers of commerce to positioning their festival with local businesses as a family friendly alternative to the annual panto outing for employees and their families – via discussions around merchandising, campsite fees, friends schemes, street collections, Gift Aid, sponsorship and funding! Thanks are due to all who took part, for being so generous with their knowledge.

Some of what I prepared came up in what delegates wanted to talk about, and some didn’t, and I promised to circulate my notes to them and to other conference delegates. So, here they are: AFO Life After the Cuts. They’re not intended to be definitive, but instead were put together to stimulate discussion between the festival organisers at the conference at what is a difficult time for many, given cuts to local authority (especially) and Arts Council funding.

Please do have a read, and please do add your comments and thoughts – there’s a wealth of experience and knowledge across the sector, and our sharing this with each other is key to our sector’s sustainability.

A big thank you to all of you who came to see us on tour or in London – you made our artists very happy. A massive thanks to all the artists too, it was great to have you at Fertilizer! And thanks too to our funders: Arts Council England, Sound and Music, and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute (IAM), not just for their money but for their all-round support in helping us deliver the festival.

As far as the future is concerned, we?re already plotting and planning in true Fertilizer style, keeping our ears to the ground for the latest underground sounds. We?ll keep you updated with our plans, but in the meantime if you have any suggestions for future Fertilizer outings, please do get in touch. Let us know if there?s good s**t anywhere in particular you?d like us to check out and bring back to UK. This is not a competition; there are no prizes to be won – but you might end up seeing your dream festival come to life and how cool would that be?!

The mash up of sounds and influences has to be seen (and heard) to be believed this year as we bring you everything from the finest Polish hip hop, to electronica, post rock psychedelia and even an orchestra of tiny instruments. To find out more about the acts showcased this year check out their biogs on our website. And for the first time we?ll also be spreading good s**t across the UK as the Fertilizer tour bus heads for Norwich, Bristol, Oxford, Liverpool and Gateshead for a series of very special shows featuring Sing Sing Penelope, Jacaszek and Contemporary Noise Sextet.

Plus thanks to Sound and Music this year Fertilizer has been able to commission a unique British Polish Jazz collaboration between Pete Wareham of Acoustic Ladyland and Polar Bear fame and Poland?s prog-jazzers Pink Freud. Pete is at the heart of the new breed of improvisers who effortlessly blends rock, electronica and beats with Jazz which makes him the perfect partner for Pink Freud who epitomise Gdansk?s tradition of improvisatory drawing on a truly eclectic range of influences, including jazz, rock, folk, jungle and drum?n?bass, making them one of the most interesting and spontaneous jazz groups we?ve come across in recent years.

Pete has been out in Poland to practise and perform with Pink Freud and you can follow his time over there through his regular updates on Twitter. The guys will be playing 2 exclusive gigs during the festival the first at London?s Cargo on Wednesday the 13th of May and then at Howard Assembly Rooms in Leeds the next night, Thursday the 14th.

And this year it?s easier than ever to keep up with everything Fertilizer. Why not become our friend and receive exclusive updates on the festival, read interviews with the acts and be in with a chance to win some goodies? You can also join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

I?ll leave you with our first in our new series of the Fertilizer Phrasebook, which aims to equip you with all the phrases you?ll need to have a good time at this year?s Festival:

No. 1 - Zata?czymy? ? which means ?Shall we dance??

I’m really enjoying working on the Fertilizer Festival, it’s a brilliant project and is allowing me to combine all my interests; promotion, live music, marketing and online and digital promotional techniques. I’m really looking forward to the Festival landing in May, and experiencing some underground and slightly left field music from Poland!

I’ll leave you with a few of my favourite links from my first few weeks at the hub…

• Firstly my favourite band at the moment Strawhouses who I’m sure I am now beginning to annoy my fellow hubites with by talking about them so much.

• The Fertilizer Festival on Twitter… please follow us!

• hub operations manager Andi’s RT @Shunt project which I very much enjoyed at The Shunt Lounge.

Tom Johnson, hub Fertilizer Intern 2009.

the hub co-produces Fertilizer with sound uk. The team behind Fertilizer is dynamic, entrepreneurial and passionate about good music. As part of that team you?ll get to work on putting together the marketing strategy for the festival, creating on- and off-line publicity materials, building our distribution networks and online presence and getting involved in our PR. We hope that during your three months with us you?ll pick up skills, experience and contacts that will prove useful to you in your future career, and that you?ll have lots of fun into the bargain.

Alongside all this marketing activity, you?ll also get hands on experience of working in a small, busy and friendly team, and will help us to keep things running smoothly.

We?re looking for someone to join our team from the end of February 2009 and be part of it for until the end of May 2009, working 3-4 days a week. So if you?re keen to hone your marketing skills, are passionate about music, like words and have a way with them and are a good team player, we?d love to hear from you. You?ll also need good computer skills, and to be able to commit to being part of our team for three months. In return, we?ll pay your expenses and make sure your internship is something of real value to you. We?re based in east London, by the way.
Here is what Gemma Scott, one of our recent Interns, said about this internship:
“Finding direction in an arts based career can be difficult in many ways. The hub?s Internship has gifted me with the experience of working closely as part of a team with devoted and respected professionals, and has inspired me to pursue a career in arts development and education. I worked on a range of varied and exciting projects and this helped me understand the many ways in which different people contribute to the arts industry through their various job roles to achieve some spectacular results. The guys at the hub are friendly and supportive and will readily adapt the experience towards individual interests and requirements. I would highly recommend this Internship to anyone wanting to progress with a career in the arts.?

HOW TO APPLY
If you?d like to apply to join our team, please send Andi Studer your CV and a covering letter, telling us about your skills, interests, career ambitions, why you are interested in working with the hub and what you can contribute to the team. Andi?s email address is: andi@thehubuk.com

The deadline for getting your application to us is: Weds 18 February 2009
Interviews will be held on Tues 24 February 2009

Take a look and marvel at the magic a P&C stage can create! Big thanks to the producer and director of this film, Stuart Silver and to everyone who agreed to take part.

Phrased & Confused @ Summer Sundae Weekender 2008 from the hub on Vimeo.