Marion Welham meets Genevieve Christie, CEO of the First Light Festival that is shining a light on the town of Lowestoft
Name a famous Suffolk seaside resort and what would it be? You could be forgiven for thinking of Aldeburgh, such is the relentless publicity since composer Benjamin Britten made his base there. But head a bit further north and there’s Lowestoft, Britain’s most easterly town with its wide beaches and beautiful historic buildings, where Britten was lucky enough to be born and raised.
Many Suffolk people, like myself, recall Lowestoft in its heyday - bucket and spade heaven, with wide beaches, thriving cafes and hotels, smart piers and neat seafront gardens, while, down at the harbour, trawlers were discharging their silvery cargoes. But hey, that’s nostalgia and, joy of joys, it’s not the end of the story. Thanks to the remarkable First Light Festival, bringing in over 35,000 visitors last year, we’re starting to see a renaissance.
This multi-arts festival doesn’t end at the summer solstice celebration on the beach, glorious as it is with musical performances, engaging activities and visual delights. It is now providing the community, with a year-round programme of cultural opportunities and pop-up projects, including innovative work with schools. How did that happen?
What Lowestoft needed was someone like Genevieve Christie, who not only had the vision to see beyond the decline typical of so many coastal towns but essentially to get on and do something about it. Meeting her at her home near Framlingham, it soon becomes clear what a champion she is for this exceptional Suffolk seaside town, the first in the UK to see the sun each day. But it wasn’t the first thing that came into her head when she moved to Suffolk with her husband, John Christie, 17 years ago.
'I suppose when I first moved, I didn’t really know very much about Lowestoft. I only knew it for the orthodontist for my children,' she says. 'Then I did some work which took me to the town and I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was, the beach, the historic high street, the character of the place.' That work was linked to the Flipside charity - she is a founding director - and, suffice to say, led to a new cultural strategy for Lowestoft.
'Through Flipside’s work in Lowestoft, I met designer Wayne Hemingway and that’s how the idea for First Light emerged.' Along with Suffolk resident Clare Matterson (since 2022 director general of the Royal Horticultural Society), they set up a community interest company, First Light Festival CIC, in July 2018. Genevieve is now CEO.
Of more than 100 volunteers at the festival last year, an impressive 40 per cent were from the local Kirkley Ward. Do local people like it? 'Yes!' she replies, quick as a flash. 'Involving people from Lowestoft is a really strong priority for us. The volunteers are a wonderful way of local people getting involved in the excitement of it, the set up of it, the feeling that it’s part of the town. And the town council supports it.
First Light also runs a music project, New Dawn, which encourages youngsters from the wider locality to perform at the festival to give them a showcase. This year they've started Play Break to encourage musicians over 25, who play or gig and who live and work in Lowestoft, to apply and work in the festival. Working with all 22 Lowestoft schools, as well as colleges, and special schools for music and visual arts programmes, is one of the ways First Light engages with families.
Surveys have been overwhelmingly positive with 92 per cent saying First Light encourages participation in community life and events. Figures from last year give some idea of the sheer size: 190 events and activities, 17 zones, seven major funders, 31 partners and supporters, 116 volunteers, 248 performers, artists and facilitators, 153 freelances, 16 arts organisations. Oh, and this year there are eight paid staff, rather than four, because First Light CIC now has a permanent base at East Suffolk Council’s re-vamped East Point Pavilion, offering food, drink and year-round cultural activities.
'We’re supported by East Suffolk Council, Suffolk County Council and now strongly by Arts Council England, and they really endorse the free access element of the whole festival,' says Genevieve. 'We also have a few ticketed elements, which helps with our overall budget - because we're not for profit, we’re running a balanced budget so income and expenditure have to match, and that is how we work it out.' A huge boost came at the end of last year when the First Light Festival became a National Portfolio Organisation, releasing further funding from the Arts Council of £220,000 per year for the next three years.
The Natural History Museum along with University of East Anglia and Cefas in Lowestoft are all part of the festival’s Planet Positive zone, bringing exhibits and experts, but always with a relevant link to the place of Lowestoft, says Genevieve. Visitors to the festival are encouraged to use public transport. 'If you come by train, you arrive practically in the middle of the festival. You step out of the station, turn right and it’s just down on the beach. We really do encourage people to use as many different modes of transport as possible, including cycling. There's also camping on the beach and a site for campervans.
'This year, the festival will follow the cycles of the sun and we’re part of a national project called Hi! Street Fest, which means we’ve got some lovely large puppets coming,' says Genevieve enthusiastically. 'It’s going to be a larger-scale parade starting in the town then weaving its way down to the festival site on the beach by noon. Fingers crossed that the weather is good!' More infectious laughter from Genevieve and it strikes me that, notwithstanding all those statistics necessarily recorded for partners and funders, it’s quite simply the fun of it all that will give everyone the biggest boost at this midsummer celebration.
'The main stage will kick everything off and we’ll go on until dusk, which is about 9.30pm, on the beach,' she explains. 'Things will be happening at venues around the festival site, including the East Point Pavilion where we're having our Intergalactic silent disco.' We’re both laughing now at the delightful thought of this space-age shindig. 'Then we celebrate dawn at 3.30am in the morning with some lovely music and dance. Then, on the Sunday it’s a longer day and it will go from 10am until 4pm, which will be new for us.'
The aim is to bring in more elements each year, although this is only the third full-scale festival. The pandemic forced a two-year pause so a switch was made to the innovative, film-driven First Light From Home. In 2021, classical music on the beach with an installation saying ‘You are the Dawn after my Dark’ hit just the right note, says Genevieve.
She loves the fact that Lowestoft is on the cusp of exciting developments - the much-anticipated third crossing, the Gull Wing over Lake Lothing, due to be completed this year; the promise of jobs and security with the renewable energy industry; the recent delivery of the Heritage Action Zone for the town; and plans for new public spaces. One of the aims of First Light, she says, was 'to help people appreciate what is there and to get people who live there to be proud of their own town'.
Talking about the sea and the rising of the sun in the calming space of the Christies' beautifully converted barn, I'm drawn to an outsized abstract on the far wall. It’s by Basil Beattie, an artist both she and John, himself an acclaimed visual artist and broadcast film-maker, admire. Love of the visual arts is something they share - both enjoy Art Station at Saxmundham and 303 Projects gallery in Lowestoft.
Gardening helps Genevieve switch off and she’s rightly proud of the large perennial flower meadow by the house. Getting away on holiday is, not surprisingly, much anticipated. 'Well you have to make time for it don’t you? Travelling makes you see new things - it’s very beneficial and shouldn’t be underestimated because it’s a change of scene. But I have to say that just living where we do, just to go to the coast, you can feel you’re on holiday and that’s lovely as well.' She also makes time to visit her daughter, Alice, working in London, and her son Theo, studying at Durham university.
Asked what she likes about Suffolk, she immediately shoots back: 'What don’t I love about Suffolk! There’s so many interesting people here but they don’t bang on about it and I like that. I love the wildlife and that connection with the sea and nature. Carlton Marshes is fantastic and it’s right on the doorstep of Lowestoft.'
Her hope for this year’s First Light Festival? 'To see Lowestoft so alive and showcasing itself to the world. If you haven’t been, it’s a wonderful opportunity to encounter the town with all its bells and whistles.'
firstlightlowestoft.com
