Troll Festival, Thurcroft
As part of Rotherham becoming the world's first Children’s Capital of Culture in 2025, Rotherham ROAR, in partnership with Thurcroft Creatives, hosted the first ever Troll Fest. Children and young people from across the region were invited to Thurcroft Rec on June 25th 2022 for a free interactive festival celebrating the arts and sustainability.
The festival was an arts extravaganza, a free event for children and young people that celebrated all things nature with art, crafts, music, and dance. The festival had a focus on environmental awareness and sustainability.
The event started with a mini procession around the park, with the parade’s larger-than-life giant puppet leading the way.
In addition to the parade, the festival included free creative workshops led by local artists, a main stage with live music, entertainment, poetry, and hot drinks.
“The community would like to thank you and all the other artists who made the event so successful. We have only received positive comments.”
Workshops
The celebration leading up to the festival began six weeks in advance, with over 50 free, artist-led creative workshops spread out over the intervening time in Thurcroft. All of the creativity from the workshops went into the Troll Festival procession and was on display at the festival.
The workshops were for all ages and were a great chance to be creative, have fun and learn new skills. Workshops included making giant troll puppets using upcycled materials, printing, painting, sculpture, dancing, and writing.
“I really loved the troll theme and seeing different things appear in the venue. The Troll Museum was a lovely concept, and the space provided a good foundation for my work. Children seemed to enjoy the character-making aspect and slightly visceral aspects of trolldom, adding things like fake snot and vomit to masks”
This opportunity was funded by South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) and distributed through Children’s Capitol of Culture, managed by ROAR and delivered in partnership with Thurcroft Creatives.
