AS Thurrock moves towards the end of May, Get Creative Festival 2024 produced by local arts organisation Arts Outburst had a busy fourth week of events and the final days offer the chance for Thurrock residents to get involved. 

The final instalment of A Little Light Music on Wednesday, 22 May saw a performance from Grays musician John Paul Elliott who entertained with a mix of original songs and covers.

On Thursday, 23 May, local artists and community groups took to the Thameside Theatre stage for Get Creative Live! Get Creative favourite Harry Westerman hosted the evening and treated the audience to a couple of songs in between welcoming performances from Thurrock Voices choir, students from Creative Blast Performing Arts Academy and Extent Stage Productions. 

Local performer Jake Essex, performing on stage for the first time, wowed the crowd with his catalogue of Elvis songs and SOCF Street Dancerz brought the evening to a close and had the audience clapping along to their high energy dance moves!

On Saturday, 25 May Get Creative joined forces with T100 Goes Wild Festival for the T100 Garden Party - an afternoon of workshops, talks and walks focusing on health, wellbeing and the environment. Local practitioners invited people to try various sessions including yoga with Satwinder, Mindful Movement with Move to Thrive, Charlotte Trower from Bluer Skies Creatives had people relaxing with her meditation session, Impulse Leisure invited us to try Pound Unplugged and Arts Outburst's Alexandria Merchant led a singing for wellbeing session. 

Local artist and natural dye expert Lora Aziz led a tour of the T100 natural dye garden and a plant story walk for younger attendees. 

A statement from event organisers Arts Outburst  added: "We were are proud to have worked with Appluase Touring to showcase Casson and Friends The Allotment Project, a piece of Documentary Dance Theatre that celebrates allotments and the communities around them, wowing audiences with their accessible brand of contemporary dance. 

"Tuesday 28 May saw the return of Words + Music – this time an event for over 18s - and a talented bunch of artists came along to share their skills at Arts Outburst studio at the Thameside complex, including poetry, guitar solos, beatboxing and lots of singing! 

"Wednesday 29 May saw Sounds Like Thurrock take to HMV in Lakeside and the festival finale is tomorrow (Friday, 31 May) at Arts Outburst studio when Bernadette Rusell will bring her show '366 Days of Kindness' to Thurrock.  

"The true story of one woman's mission to answer the question "can kindness change the world? " by carrying out an act of kindness for a total stranger every day for 366 days.

"Involving cakes, compliments, phone boxes and Billy Bragg teaching her how to play "The Milkman of Human Kindness" in a cupboard at the BBC.

"This is a comedy about how, despite what we are told about the state of the world, there is more love than hate, more hope than fear, more good than bad. All this plus a chance to win a million pounds (really)!"

 Tickets are £5 and are bookable online at: https://www.artsoutburst.co.uk

Daryl Branch, CEO and Artistic Director of Arts Outburst said: "What a great month we've had! The Festival has been a great success and we are looking forward to ending on a high with the acclaimed one woman show '366 Days of Kindness' by Bernadette Russell.

"It's been an honour to have welcomed so many professional and non-professional artists to take part in Get Creative 2024. "We've had a real mix of ages and abilities and it's great to be able to offer them a safe space to come along and perform, many of them for the first time. 

"The quality of performances has been amazing and we hope that many of them will return next year as we start putting plans in place for Get Creative 2025!"