A vibrant arts festival which showcases the cultural heart of the city is to return for a fourth time this summer.

Carlisle’s Historic Quarter Arts Festival is set to be bigger than ever this year, with over 50 works of art on display around the oldest part of the city.

And there is an expanded series of events alongside the exhibition, with Carlisle Writers’ Group leading two writing workshops, Ben Heslop of Blank Wall Assassins taking a walk around Carlisle’s street art and children’s art workshops run by Abby Kilfedder of Artscool.

Abby has worked with children from some of Carlisle’s schools to produce decorated plates linked to the theme of Carlisle’s Living History.

Amateur and professional artists have submitted work in a range of media, including painting, photography and sculpture and there is even a hand-painted fairground sign as one of the exhibits.

Artist Gregory Coburn has taken the brief literally, with a portrait of his neighbour Derek Gaughy, 82, who has lived through some of Carlisle’s historic moments.

Derek remembers sitting on a wall with his sisters just after the second world war and seeing Montgomery travelling up Botchergate in an open top car to thank the troops.

He also saw Hopalong Cassidy, a star of cowboy films, throwing silver dollars to the crowd in Carlisle. He loves the idea of his portrait being on display in the city and is excited to see it as part of the art trail.

Visitors can use a specially designed map to follow the art trail around the shops, businesses and cafes of the Historic Quarter and can pick one up at Intro HQ and the tourist information centre.

Artists Sophie Steadmand and Molly Hughes of SoMo are curating this year’s exhibition and are excited to be involved. 

“We are delighted to be collaborating with Intro and the University of Cumbria to curate this year’s Historic Quarter Arts Festival. We are very excited to be associated with an exhibition that showcases the creative talents of people in Carlisle and the surrounding areas”, they said.

“As a new arts-based collective, we feel incredibly lucky to be involved in an event that uplifts and celebrates both amateur and professional artists.”

The festival has attracted some high-profile sponsorship from Stagecoach, University of Cumbria and Cumberland Council as well as support from Carlisle and Brampton and Longtown Rotary and local businesses including Whytes Cafe, Sculpture House Hair, Amato’s restaurant, Bookends and BlackboxArchitects.

Malcolm Wilson of Blackbox Architects is chair of the judging panel and is looking forward to the buzz that the festival creates.

“This festival is a fantastic opportunity for the artistic community of Carlisle to show what they can do and is a great way of celebrating the talent that we have in our city.”

The festival runs from Monday, July 22, to Sunday, August 18, and is open every day from 11am – 4pm

For more information visit https://weareintro.co.uk/artsfestival/or contact Georgina Harland george@weareintro.co.uk