The Kite Festival

The Kite Festival will take place over summer at the Kite Garden on Prospect Row. The Kite Festival team will develop activities, including new ways to share the heritage and story of the Kite Garden. We’re looking for folks with skills in journalism, photography, interpretation, podcasting and more!

Aims of the project:

1. To build momentum of an emerging narrative in Cambridge: the potential of people who identify as ‘town’ to lead in the shaping of our economy. We do this by revealing Cambridge’s hidden working class stories. 
2. To seed a radical culture of change amongst people who don’t consider themselves to ‘hold power’. We do this by exploring ‘Town and Gown’ (or town versus gown) dynamics and identities, how different classes have shaped different cultures, and that building collective community power requires acknowledging this, surfacing a joined up vision of a more equitable economy, and developing a pathway to that future which is built upon knowledge, skills, and needs of this multi-cultural society. 
3. To build the momentum, team, skills, and trial the co-creation of heritage economy offerings that could scale this work, employ people, and enable the community to share the revenue generated. This demonstrates how we can build community wealth. We could do this by developing MVPs of ‘Kite Tours’ or a ‘Barnwell Heritage’ tour. Perhaps partnering with St Andrews the Lesser and Abbey People.

How can I get involved?

Folks who want to join the Kite Festival project will join the project kick-off meeting on Thursday 29 January, 5.30 - 8pm, at the Alexandra Arms on Gwydir Street.

This event is called The State of Together Culture 2026: it's a moment to get clear on:

• What the Kite Festival project involves
• How we’ll make decisions together to move them forward
• How you can play a real, meaningful part

If you want to be part of shaping and delivering this work, this gathering is the starting point. Come add your voice, meet the crew, and help decide what happens next.

What will I be doing?

This project is going to be co-created by everyone involved - so we can't tell you exactly what you'll be doing! But, here's what you should come prepared to get stuck into:

• Developing festival activities (think story gathering and telling, neighbourhood tours, music food, gardening and other creative activities)
• Developing your oral heritage listening skills to collect stories from your neighbours
• Building digital and IRL ways to share the stories and learning (think podcasts, photography and art installations)

“At a time when American democracy suffered from the drift of overwhelming despair, Lippmann called for the mastery of history by an active, inventive, and disciplined citizenry. Of the prospect of engendering an upswing out of a downward drift, he contended, it has to be done not by some wise and superior being but by the American people themselves. No one man, no one group can do it all. It is an immense collaboration.” Americans, in other words, had to eschew the corrosive, cynical slide to “me” and rediscover the latent power and promise of “we.”

Putnam, Robert, “The Upswing; how we came together a century ago and how we can do it again.” (Swift Press, 2020)