Get Creative Festival shines a light on all the great cultural activity that takes place on a regular basis in local communities and encourages people to try their hand at something new and creative. This huge annual celebration of creativity aims to give everyone the chance to get actively involved in a creative event in their local area. We would like to encourage all Guild members to consider spreading the love of quiltmaking by hosting an event or contributing to an event your local group is hosting.

To help and guide you, the Guild now has a Get Creative Champion, Sue Hinde, and you can contact her on get.creative@quiltersguild.org.uk.  Events must meet the criteria for the Get Creative Festival, which means they must be:

• participatory and creative
• free or have just a small fee to cover costs
• take place in the UK between 9 – 17 May 2020

“We hosted a ‘Have a go – patchwork and quilting day’ [at Allan Bank National Trust Property in Grasmere in 2019]. Most of the visitors to the house engaged with us in some way – chatting, reminiscing, being re-inspired. A few visitors sewed English paper-pieced hexagon flowers and took the makings for more home with them. This event truly met the aims of the Get Creative festival, and working with an organisation like the National Trust meant our event was promoted via their publicity as well as our own.”

Sue Hinde, Get Creative Champion

If you’d like to host an event, libraries, local authorities and other organisations such as the National Trust should be aware of the Get Creative Festival so it’s worth approaching them to enquire about free use of space, and there is an Event Planning Toolkit available to download from the Get Creative website. Events are listed on their searchable website and are widely promoted by the BBC on TV and radio, as well as by local radio stations.

Your group’s hands-on event could be a one-off for a few hours, an activity every day of the festival – or anything in between – it’s up to you. It’s the perfect opportunity to raise the profile of the craft of quiltmaking and may even help to raise the profile of your group and to find new members. A Get Creative event does not need to be a special event or occasion. You can open your weekly group, or you might decide to run a beginner friendly workshop within it.

Find more information on Get Creative at their website, in the Winter edition of our member magazine The Quilter (pages 22-23), and by contacting our Get Creative Champion, Sue Hinde.