Students at Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys celebrated their myriad artistic talents, courtesy of the Creative Arts Summer Festival. Eileen Leahy discovers more about this fun event, which took place at the end of last month…
Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys (TWGSB) recently hosted its Creative Arts Festival. The yearly event is an evening celebration of the students’ talent and the work they have completed during the current academic year.
A spokesperson for the selective school, which is based on St John’s Road, said the festival was hailed as a “resounding success” by those who attended.
The programme for 2023 offered a variety of music, drama, art and media studies, with pupils from Years 7-12 all participating.
On the night, musicians played a selection of short concerts which covered rock, jazz, pop, contemporary and classical genres.
“Each participant delighted the audience who were clapping and engaged throughout the evening,” added the TWGSB spokesperson.
“The talent of the classical musicians, who included violinists and pianists, was outstanding. They included Year 8 student, Karson, who performed Kabalevsky’s Violin Concerto, Movement 1, and immediately gained a fan club after his performance!”
TWGSB drama students also performed at the school’s annual celebration, notably doing excerpts from Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist.
“There were delightful enactments of Mr Bumble taking Oliver to the undertakers, which included an amusing take on Mrs Sowerberry, the undertaker’s wife.”
Work produced by TWGSB GCSE and A level art students was also on display in a gallery to showcase the budding creatives’ collective artistic talent.
Alongside this was a presentation of work by selected Year 7s, which was described by the TWGSB spokesperson as “both amusing and incredibly inventive”.
“Their ingenious recreations of various famous works of art such as Vermeer’s Girl With A Pearl Earring, Wood’s American Gothic and Van Gogh’s Starry Night, replicated with pets, relatives, and even household products was certainly both amusing and incredibly inventive’ and definitely entertained our visitors!”
TWGSB media students’ music videos were deemed “impressively professional and displaying raw creative talent” and expertly showed off the skills they have acquired through filming and video editing.
Other media studies pupils displayed music album covers and film posters, all created using graphics techniques and their imagination.
“The evening culminated with a rousing rendition of Toto’s ‘Rosanna’ performed by Joris’s Jolly Jokers, a group that included talented TWGSB music staff on saxophone and bass guitar, and excellent frontman, George (Year 12) who really got the audience in the festival spirit,” added the school’s spokesperson.
TWGSB Deputy Headteacher, Mr Jackson, also commented on the Creative Arts Festival saying: “We are all extremely proud of the students and the work they have put in to achieve these levels of confidence and success in the creative arts, with many taking years to hone their skills. We thank them all, and the staff involved, for putting on a stunning evening of entertainment.”
